Vladimir Putin has let slip about his secret family, referring to ‘my little ones’ in an interview – the Kremlin leader has never confirmed the young family he has with Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva
Vladimir Putin let slip a hint about his secret young family during his marathon televised question and answer session.
He has never confirmed the young family he has with Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, who is three decades his junior. But in an unguarded moment answering a question from a woman in Arctic Russia, 41, he referred to watching fairy tale films with “my little ones”.
State propaganda channel RT translated his words as “my junior family members”. Putin, 72, spoke of the need for patriotic films including those showing traditional fairy tales, and bemoaned film producers going abroad, presumably in opposition to his war.
“But this drives our own production, including film production, that’s true, and considering such a unifying uplift of society, the kind of uplift that brings people together, is, of course, very important.
“Our historic fairy tales and epic tales are being revived. I myself sometimes watch these with pleasure with my little ones.” A flicker of a smile appeared on his face as he mentioned them. Putin is also known to have grandchildren from his two eldest daughters – Maria Vorontsova, 39, and Katerina Tikhonova, 38, a high-kicking ‘rock’n’roll’ dancer.
While Putin and the Kremlin have always denied a relationship between him and glamorous Kabaeva, independent Russian journalists have established they have two sons together.
They are named Ivan, nine, and Vladimir junior, five, and they share his multiple lavish homes in different regions of Russia. The children have never been seen and live out of sight behind his palace walls.
Putin also has another secret daughter Ekaterina Krivonogikh – aka Luiza Rozova – born to his former mistress, cleaner turned £75 million multimillionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 49, who holds shares in a top bank and owns a prominent St Petersburg striptease club.
Luiza is known to have lived in the West – in Paris -“I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected,” divorced Putin barked in one interview. He deplored “those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives”.
Kabaeva in 2004 posed almost nude – except for furs – for Maxim magazine in Russia and was described as “full of sex” by a photographer. Earlier – after being temporarily banned in a doping scandal in 2001 – she was photographed naked but for strategically-placed lilacs as part of a Russian project “Twelve Months” by Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya.
Later, she appeared on a Russian show called One Hundred Questions for Adults when she was questioned about her private life by an audience of children. In one clip, was asked by a young boy if she had met her “ideal man” to which she replied giggling: “I have.”
She was then asked who the mystery man in her life was but would only reveal “he’s a very good man, a great man” though she added: “’I love him very much.” Kabaeva added:”Sometimes you feel so happy that you even feel scared.”
