Alisa Kharcheva was just a teenager when she posed for a steamy calendar created to mark Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s birthday and allegedly visited the despot once a fortnight
Vladimir Putin ‘regularly’ cheated on his long-term Olympic gymnast partner with an underage beauty pageant contestant, it has been claimed.
17-year-old school leaver Alisa Kharcheva is said to have been smuggled into the Russian leader’s official residence or one of his boltholes when rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, now 42, was away. The startling new claims come from Russian investigative journalists, with revelations covering the 73-year-old despot’s relationship with Alisa Kharcheva – who was just 17 when she was first allegedly seduced by Putin, who was 58 at the time.
The beauty queen even posed for a raunchy calender created to mark Putin’s birthday. The makers of the calender, which came from youth movement Nashi, were attempting to gain favour with the then-Prime Minister of Russia and used girls posing for the steamy calendar as bait to lure him, according to Proekt media.
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Putin is said to have been sent the calender with details of the girls’ contacts, and his eye was caught by Alisa, who posed as Miss April. His obsession with Alisa has previously been documented, but this latest account gives lurid new details of his love life, and “confirms a long-lasting relationship between the head of state and the young woman.”
“ALong with the gift copy of the calendar, the students’ contact details were given to the Kremlin,” the new account claimed. One person recalled: “Alisa’s phone rang soon enough – less than a month later.
“A voice on the other end greeted her and suggested a meeting at the prime minister’s suburban residence apparently referring to Novo-Ogaryovo in the Moscow region. The caller was likely a Putin aide, although one of our interlocutors repeats a rumour circulating among Nashi [people] that it was [Putin] himself, impressed by the photo of the beauty. Everyone who wpoke to us agrees on one point – intimate relations began between Kharcheva and Putin.”
The visits were timed to coincide with Putin’s unofficial girlfriend, Alina Kabaeva’s absences. The rhythmic gymnast and mother to Putin’s two sons, Ivan, 10, and Vladimir Jnr, six, is an Olympic gold medalist who runs an elite sports academy.
“The girl visited the prime minister regularly – these visits naturally coincided with the departures from the residence of Alina Kabaeva, who by then was already Putin’s main partner,” Proekt said. “His formal wife, Lyudmila, was no longer living with the prime minister.”
Putin publicly announced that he and Lyudmila had ended their marriage of 30 years in June 2013, saying it was bsed on a mutual decision. Alisa is reported to have visited Putin once a fortnight.
While her role as Putin’s lover was hidden, she was not concealed from the public as she appeared on TV talking about the calendar and was fast-tracked into the finals of the Miss Russia contest. Proekt explained: “When she wanted to take part in the Miss Russia pageant, she immediately ended up in the final, broadcast by NTV, a channel owned by the state and Putin’s friends.
“The whole country, without knowing it, watched the prime minister’s lover pass stage after stage – parading in a swimsuit and evening gown, answering the judge’s questions.”
Footage of her in the contest has since re-emerged. She did not end up winning, with speculation that a win after being fast-tracked through could trigger too much scrutiny, but she did place in the top ten.
Nashi bosses attempted to use Alisa’s rendezvous with Putin in order to peddle their influence, as Proekt says “to pass on this or that request”. They reportedly hoped to turn the teen into a Russian version of Madame de Pompadour – lover and advisor to King Louis XV of France.
The report says it was “the story of how a group of Nashists tried to get close to Vladimir PUtin by using a minor girl”. Adding: “In fact, it was an attempt to repeat the legend of Madame Pompadour’s patrons at the court of Louis XV.” However, the report added: “Our interlocutors cannot recall a single initiative that Alisa carried into Putin’s bed actually being implemented. Moreover, one of them believes that attempts to exploit the romance must have irritated Putin.”
While Putin eventually stopped inviting the teen over, he ensured her sportsman father was offered a job, it has been claimed. Alisa was “placed” at Russia’s top higher education institute MGIMO, and received a luxury Moscow apartment, according to disclosure information.
When asked about her links to Putin and whether he helped her get the flagt, Alisa did not deny the claims, but said: “No one has ever asked me such stupid questions.” She insisted she had a mortgage on the apartment.
Today, Alisa co-owns a successful chain of elite tanning studios. The latest revelations of the affair follows the release of ‘The Tsar in Person, How Vladimir Putin Fooled Us All’, which claims Putin publicly espouses traditional marriages but prefers “free” relationships for himself, sleeping with “a multitude of women”.
“I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected,” Putin once said. He deplored “those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives.”