Vladimir Putin’s first wife was Lyudmila Shkrebneva. They were married for something like thirty years, and they divorced in 2013. I remember she apologized to him publicly around the time of the divorce, even though he had clearly been carrying on affairs for many years. Lyudmila feared him, and I doubt his second partner feels differently. His second partner is Alina Kabaeva, an Olympic gold-medalist. I… um, doubt she was in a position to refuse Putin’s advances. Alina and Vladimir Putin have been together for many years, although no one really knows when they really started up. They have children together too. But Alina doesn’t live in Russia anymore. She lives in Switzerland with their children.
Vladimir Putin’s mistress Alina Kabaeva is allegedly hiding in Switzerland with their four young children, sources tell Page Six.
“While Putin carries out his assault on the Ukraine, attacking innocent citizens and causing a refugee crisis, his family is holed up in a very private and very secure chalet somewhere in Switzerland – for now, at least,” a source told us.
Kabaeva, an Olympic gold-winning gymnast, reportedly has four children with the Russian leader, 69, but the two have never officially confirmed it. Sources say they share 7-year-old twin daughters, who were born near Lugano, Switzerland, in February 2015. It is believed they also have two other sons.
“Alina has two young boys and twin girls with Putin who were born in Switzerland,” a source told Page Six about Putin’s alleged children with Kabaeva, 38. “The kids all have Swiss passports, and I imagine she does also.”
Putin – who has two other adult daughters, Maria, 36, and Katerina, 35, from his first marriage to former flight attendant Lyudmila Shkrebneva – has fought hard to shield his children from the media and spotlight. He hardly ever publicly speaks about them, prompting confusion about how many kids he actually has.
I mean… smart for Alina to get the f–k out of Russia years ago and set herself up in Switzerland. Also very smart to secure Swiss passports for herself and her children, just for that added level of protection. That being said, I still think Alina should be sanctioned! She might not be an oligarch, but someone is paying for her lifestyle with blood rubles. Sh-t needs to get real for Putin and his cronies, and their families and mistresses. Sanction everybody. Take away their Swiss bank accounts and their Swiss chalets.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I am sure she had basically no choice in whether or not she wanted to be with Putin.
Switzerland allows dual citizenship since 1992 and reserves the right to refuse to extradite its own nationals (even though it has an extradition treaty with the US)
and Switzerland is Switzerland. It’s where all the rich people go not just to put their money there but to hide out physically because Switzerland almost never extradites people. It has a long history of trying to be as neutral as possible in world affairs. which is why I said ‘Switzerland is Switzerland’
*edit* to add on to what I said about extradition, any attempt to extradite her would probably be seen as an aggression against Russia. which is why nobody is going to do it because, y’know. Russian nukes. if NATO says they aren’t going to make Ukraine a no-fly zone the powers that be certainly aren’t going to be moving to extradite someone who (possibly nonconsensually) spawned with Vlad.
I’m not sure you can make that assumption. Some women are attracted to powerful men. Some may even thrive on powerful & brutal men (Assad’s wife). With no personal glimpse into who she is I’d say it’s just as likely she welcomed the relationship.
I thought the same thing. Remember how people used to think Melania was trapped. NOPE. She was quite ok with being the wife of someone who was an AH but had lots of money and at the time, power
This. All my Russian friends tell me that Putin can pick from a bunch of beautiful women fawning over him. There are quite a few in governmental positions that make googly eyes at him at events. We know even Trump had female fans. From my experience Russian women wanting to marry very powerful rich Russian men are often very aware that they are no pussycats and there are sacrifices to be made.
He’s not Donald Trump: he’s czar for life in his personal dictatorship. He’s who Donald Trump wanted to be. No one in Russia has a choice in the sense of having personal freedom, outside a tiny circle of elites. Maybe she really wanted to be in that circle and is delighted to be there, who knows?
Look at everyone who married Trump. Or the Hitler women obsessed with him.
Don’t be sure about anything unless you know facts. Plus, she’s definitely not seeing him on the daily.
I mean it ain’t looks or personality or how kind they are.
In these photos of them they’re basically eye-fu**ing. Safe to say there was mutual attraction there based on these photos.
That’s how these dictatorships work. Citizens are expected to adore the leader. Nothing else is accepted. I mean . . . You know from pictures?
Well yeah, the amount of propaganda that was created about Putin especially when he was first coming into power was wild. No one knew him nationally, so they crafted this image of him and an entire generation of Russians grew up on these stories though after the last decade that probably tasted like ash in the mouth.
There were entire charting pop songs written about him! That being said, I hope they sanction the hell out of his family.
If anyone is interested in reading about his rise to power, Masha Gessen’s book from a decade ago, The Man Without a Face is fantastic!
@Emma you seem to be overlooking the very basic rule that some women are just as bad as men. My family fled communism so I know very well how it works. I also know how very well “charming” populists work and I’m assuming that he may be like that to some. But to assume she had no choice may be a cop out; some women share his ideology or simply want the powerful and wealthy husband or believe whatever as long as I get the $ and big house in Switzerland.
I don’t know her but won’t automatically assume she’s a victim. The kids are the only ones I can say for sure have no say in this and I hope grow up to be better than their father.
I am sure she loves his money. Let’s see how sexy she finds him if he loses it all. Same for Melania. These relationships are all transactional.
Regardless of her ability to choose, her kids had no say in any decisions. You don’t get to choose your parents and no child would seek out a homicidal maniac bent on world destruction for a father. I’m reluctant to punish elementary school aged kids for their parents (the grown kids who didn’t walk away when they hit adulthood are a different story). She can keep just enough to keep a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and food on the table. The rest should be seized. And no, the roof doesn’t need to be a multi-million dollar chalet, the clothes don’t need to be designer, but the food should be sufficient in quantity and quality (and I’m fine with trustees overseeing the expenditures).
She was a teenager when she met him 17 /18 and he’s a narc who love bombed her, I’m sure. He was the ultimate power and she was a kid.
Why do only some young women get a break on this page while others are blamed? Lots of contradictions here.
Putin murders people for fun. She grew up as his lover /mistress whatever. She at least got away and is living a good life. Why blame her, a woman who was groomed as a 17 year old by the most powerful man in her country and one of the most in the world? She’s not an oligarch is she? Sure she might know now but what should she do? Give me a break from this bs. People here need to grow up.
Look at all the women in history obsessed with dictators. Hitler had his own fandom (not talking about the cousins he forced that were basically children). Trump is no Putin but look at the women he “attracted”. I doubt Amy of these were due to looks or personality or their kindness. Some women go for power. Can never be sure.
Are you joking? She probably jumped at the chance, and now she is sitting on a pile of russian black money not because she is smart to get out of russia but because that’s where putin wants her and the bank account that feeds her, and all the ex soviet kgb-managed money is sitting in european capitals. I agree she should be sanctioned as well as putins older kids who no doubt are sitting on millions of stolen money.
They should be kicked out from Switzerland and be send to russia!!! No mercy for putins family, they should pay for it.
Oh gross…women procreated with him. Possibly against their will. And yeah, please kick her and family out of Switzerland — families, children are dying in Ukraine and she and her family get to live rich and scott free off another country’s decimation? Putin is targeting Zelensky and his family for assassination. So sanction the shit out of her and the entire family. Put the entire family under house arrest just for being associated with Putin…no pity for Putin’s family and friends.
Hear, Hear.. From your mouth to God’s ears. I second this: ‘…NO PITY for putin’s family and friends’.
“No pity for Putin’s family and friends” – YES!!!
AMEN to that!
Completely gross that anyone would be with him, but why is she referred to as his “mistress” if he is not married?
Maybe because it started when he was still married… I mean,his wife divorced because he had mistresses… They did start the affair about 20 years ago…
i think the term mistress applies well when he treats it as an affair he won’t confirm and tries to cover up. being a ‘girlfriend’ or ‘wife’ implies a different status in society than she probably has. what word would you use?
also, ‘mistress’ often has the connotation of a relationship without love even if it has been ongoing for a long time.
I just think of “Mistress” as someone involved in an affair with a married man. Without knowing more, I would probably just call her the mother of his children. But any association with him is obviously vile.
I think it infers that he has many women who *service* him. He has another long-time mistress, Svetlana Krivonogikh, who allegedly had a child with him. In 2003, an offshore company called Brockville Development Limited, through two other Panamanian companies, bought her a luxury apartment in Monte Carlo. She’s also has a flat in St. Petersburg and other valuable assets. He pays his mistresses well for their silence.
From what I understand she started off as his mistress when he was still married to his first wife – rumour has it that they only got divorced after she put pressure on him ’cause she wanted to be his wife/first lady of Russia. While she wears a wedding ring it has never been confirmed if they got married.
Putin is just like BoJo – no one knows how many children he has. Putin has at least one ‘love child’ with a woman who start off as a cleaner but is now in charge of one of Russia’s biggest banks.
Never underestimate the lure of money, status and power – for some women thats too powerful a combination to walk away from.
@DigitalUnicorn – That makes sense. The post article didn’t provide a timeline. I get that some are attracted to money and power but can’t imagine how anyone could knowingly take up with a mass murderer…
And never underestimate a narcissists ability to charm the pants off of anyone.
When they got together he was still married to his first wife. IIRC Kabaeva was 17 when she became Putin’s mistress.
Oh my… !
she was so young…
i really doubt she had a say and weight in beginning that relationship.
it may be a nadia comaneci situation, where she was forced to protect herself and her family from retaliation.
there have been some really interesting vidéos on YouTube about female ice skating in russia because of the winter olympic and Ukraine messes.
That sport practice is sponsored by the government, as it costs a lot to become a professional athlete.
World and olympic russians champions were offered lots of lucrative campaigns by big business and money and good housing by russian state. (all this is in jeopardy thanks to Poutine, as ice skating was supported by oligarchs)
Female Gymnasts must have same pattern.
may be she is in golden cage like the queens and concubines of the current King of thailand.
A lot of money (if her assets are bulletproof to america and European union economic armada) but not real freedom for her and and children.
She started out as his mistress. But these days a lot of people have reported that she is currently his secret wife. She’s been seen with a wedding ring a few times.
Not sure if she had no choice or if she went into it willingly but there are reports that she enjoys her lifestyle (she’s now the head of a huge pro-Putin/Kremlin media conglomerate in Russia, she was an MP at one point, and she attends a LOT of events) and that she actually has a fair bit of influence over him.
There are also conflicting reports about where she and their alleged children currently are. Other reports have said that they were moved to a huge underground luxury bunker city in the Altai Mountains – designed for nuclear war. Basically, a number of years ago, Putin had Gazprom (the energy company) build a resort in the mountains, which mysteriousluy has multiple ventilation points built into the ground surrounding the resort and a high voltage line linked to a 110 kilovolt substation – with enough power to power a small city. Vast german tunneling machines were brought in during construction too. So a lot of people thing there is a luxury underground city bunker there… Honestly, nothing would surprise me.
Also, he reportedly has another child. An 18 year old influencer (until she was gagged) named Luiza, to his former mistress Svetlana Krivonogikh – who started out as a cleaner and then suddenly became a multi-millionaire (upwards of $100M fortune in shadow wealth as revealed by the Pandora Papers) a club-owner, major shareholder in Bank Rossiya and other valuable state-owned Russian firms and lives in Monaco. Her daughter has made comments about looking like a young Putin (she does too) and is currently getting slammed on social media about her alleged father. Supposedly Svetalana was his mistress until he took up with Alina.
One, i dont know how she could … you know what … Two, are they all in a bunker yet? Putin released a list of anti Russia countries.. and all of enablers that stand there silently can stay locked up in Russia. sorry for everyone who stood up and is prosecuted. Standing up to a regime is the only way out. Greetings from Slovakia, we did it here twice in my lifetime…..
Kick her out. Maybe she can stay in a refugee camp and gain a new perspective of her lover. I’m sure her and her kids have every luxury at their disposal. I have zero sympathy at this point seeing how other mothers and babies are being killed and treated by Putin. I hope the Swiss people raise hell and at least force her to move to Belarus or back to the motherland.
I wonder how she and her children got the Swiss citizenship. I’m half Swiss and I know how difficult it is to get a Swiss passport. Many of my friends have been living here for decades/or were born here and still aren’t able to apply for citizenship. The regulations for applicants and the interviews aren’t easy either. Usually money or status doesn’t help.
Money and status definitely helped.
She probably has dual citizenship, you can apply for citizenship in Switzerland since the early 90s without renouncing your original citizenship if you are a foreigner.
I‘m aware of that. You can even have more than two citizenships. I have three, including the Swiss.
You are probably right about the money and status aspect. Even if I must say, it‘s a hard and long process to get Swiss citizenship. Many being born and raised in Switzerland don‘t have it even as adults.
I’m very curious about this too. Perhaps they went to a canton/town where the interviews and language requirements were very lax. There was one such place in Ticino or maybe in Romandie that gained some notoriety for passing everybody who took the tests and also paid 2000 CHF.
That‘s interesting. Wasn‘t aware of this. Do you remember the canton?
@Eira
It was a long time ago that I read that article. I think it was in Tessin/Ticino but really can’t be sure at all.
Regardless, if federal requirements are 10 years of residency, Kabaeva must have lived in CH for a very long time to be eligible for citizenship. Anyway, why not just buy a golden passport from Cyprus or Malta? Putin certainly has the money.
@eira
Yes, I have a family member in Switzerland who told me getting Swiss citizenship is VERY hard even if you have loads and loads of money. Someone definitely pulled some major strings behind the scenes.
I agree.
Apparently all her kids were born in Sorrengo in Tessin, like one of Berlusconi’s kids who also holds a Swiss passport. I don’t know if that is the loophole or he knew exactly who to offer board seats on Gazprom to in order to get them all citizenship.
I remember there being some fuss some time ago because she gave an interview where she said she had converted to Russian Orthodoxy (she’s an ethnic Tatar and grew up Muslim), so I imagine that was around the time that they became a couple unofficially (Putin was still married). I think it was about 20 years ago?
In the first picture of them, she looks about 16 years old, which is in line with an Olympics athlete. I do wonder what her real age is. Yes, sanction the hell out of all those people. Swiss chalet, indeed. That f-cking Putin. And the ex-wife apologized to him, I guess, for dodging the Polonium injection his cheating earned her. Just UGGHHH!
Her DOB is May 1983.
There aren’t many photos of them together. So most of these are really old. There are a bunch of photos of her at events more recently though and she definitely looks her age. The photo of her in the white shirt reaching to shake his hand was the first time they met, when she was about to go to The Olympics. The top picture is also from around that period of time. It does seem like she’s been with him since she was very very young, however. Which is gross. Even if she was willing, it a gross abuse of power from him and not at all surprising! She seems to be reaping the benefits now though. She’s the head of a major media conglomerate in Russia. Pro-Putin, of course.
Given the amount of propaganda Russians are subjected to, she probably chose him. Let’s not give her a pass. She could be just like Melania, and not care.
God will punish u Putin! U r no god just a human. For the people of Ukraine, I salute n pray for u. U will overcome.
Slava Ukraine!
I understand Zelenskyy wanting to stay but I hope his family has left Kyiv.
What do Putin’s older daughters do?
Behind every evil man, there is at least one woman who thinks he’s great, he’s misunderstood and he’s not the monster everyone else thinks he is. This Russian woman is simply a more flexible version of Eva Braun. Look at the eyes that she’s making at Putin in some of these photos. She’s there by choice and I’m sure her family and friends have benefited handsomely. They are probably living large in Switzerland… Funny how the Swiss government probably knows precisely where his little second family is at any given moment. How much did Vlad pay them for all those Swiss passports?
this 100%
This describes Casey DeSantis to a tee, who could very well be our next First Lady. Then there are women like Melania who probably know their men are trash, but just don’t care because they benefit from their status and don’t have any empathy for people who get hurt along the way.
Well his previous mistress was exposed by the Pandora Papers as having a fortune of at least $100M USD plus shares in all the better state-owned companies. Alina is rumoured to have made the jump from mistress to wife (and to be the reason he divorced his wife). She was an MP at one point, and now heads up a major pro-Kremlin media conglomerate in Russia. She gets glammed up and attends various events too. She has definitely reaped rewards from this relationship. Worth it? Not in my opinion. She likely disagrees!
I didn’t even know he had 4 more children (and young too), but I agree with what you said too.
Also, how awful is it that his first wife HAD TO apologize for divorcing him while he was having affairs left and right?? Unbelievable.
I wonder if the luxury home that they own in Switzerland was recently acquired 🤔
Would Switzerland seize property since they are a notorious protector of ill-gotten-gains for the whole world?
https://mobile.twitter.com/AT5/status/1500943307630911488
I just learned that Maria is married to a Dutchman! The link above was in the Dutch news–people went over to land that her husband, Jorrit Faassen, owns and posted the sign with the candles.
Apparently at one point she and her husband lived in Voorschoten, but there’s been no sign of them since 2016? Unclear as to whether they still live here or not.
I read that they have been back in Moscow for several years. Apparently they were pressured to leave. She is a pediatric endocrinologist, started her own cancer research center. I’m sure funded by her fathers’s money. However, how could someone could be in a field devoted to caring and compassion and not have a problem with their father being, well, him. Would be very curious to know what their relationship is like.
Two comments:
EEwwwwwwwww.
and
Ugh!