Vladimir Putin’s rumoured partner gymnast Alina Kabaeva voted today and while she declined to say who she backed, she made clear: ‘He will surely win.’
The glamorous 34-year-old arrived alone at a central Moscow polling station and appeared to be wearing a wedding ring.
She gave her internal Russian passport to a female election official who gushed: ‘We are waiting for you, we are waiting for you… and you have not been coming…’ criticising her for not voting in earlier municipal elections.
The glamorous 34-year-old arrived alone at a central Moscow polling station and appeared to be wearing a wedding ring
She gave her internal Russian passport to a female election official who gushed: ‘We are waiting for you, we are waiting for you… and you have not been coming…,’ criticising her for not voting in earlier municipal elections
Kabaeva, 31 years younger than Putin, asked the official to ‘remind me’ how to cast her ballot
Putin divorced wife Lyudmila in 2014 after a joint appearance to announce their split. Since then Kabaeva has appeared several times wearing what seems to be a wedding ring
Kabaeva, 31 years younger than Putin, asked the official to ‘remind me’ how to cast her ballot.
Smiling, she placed her ballot in the voting machine before exiting the polling station.
The Kremlin has constantly denied the Olympic gold medal winner is his secret first lady, but speculation about the former loyalist MP has persisted, including claims they have children together.
Kabaeva – not linked to any other suitors for a decade despite being seen as one of Russia’s most eligible women – is also coy over her love life.
She now heads a large staunchly pro-Kremlin media company.
Putin divorced wife Lyudmila in 2014 after a joint appearance to announce their split.
Since then Kabaeva has appeared several times wearing what seems to be a wedding ring.
Her former rhythmic gymnastics coach Irina Viner – wife of billionaire Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov – has said of Kabaeva’s love life: ‘When Alina finds the right time, she will say it herself. I’m just happy for her.’
Russia currently has no official first lady.
Vladimir Putin was confident as he headed to cast his ballot at a polling station in the Russian Academy of Sciences headquarters in Moscow on Sunday
Although Putin’s victory isn’t in doubt, the only real question is whether voters will turn out in big enough numbers to hand him a convincing mandate for his fourth term. Pictured, the Russian president casts his ballot in Moscow
Putin once said: ‘I have a private life in which I do not permit interference….it must be respected.’
Yet her public appearances and utterances often fuel speculation about a romantic relationship, and some say she even teases Russians about a possible match.
She once confessed she had met a man who ‘I love very much’, declining to name him.
She gushed: ‘Sometimes you feel so happy that you even feel scared.’
She has denied having children.