Vladimir Putin has long been rumoured to have a secret relationship with Olympian gymnast Alina Kabaeva. The Russian President has appeared with her by his side on several occasions, which many believe is an attempt to portray the leader as a more human character, rather than a vicious despot.
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Many stories have been pushed recently about the Russian President’s health, the most outlandish of which is that Putin is in fact dead. The Russian Telegram channel General SVR has been claiming this for close to a month, issuing stories about the follow-up to Putin’s alleged cardiac arrest. Last week, this same channel turned its attention to Alina Kabaeva, claiming that the gymnast is ‘almost under house arrest’. Here’s what we know so far.
The Telegram channel’s claim
The channel posted on X with an update regarding Kabaeva’s situation following Putin’s ‘death’. It’s true that Kabaeva has not been seen in public since the same day as Putin’s alleged cardiac arrest, 22 October. However, General SVR goes further, stating that:
After the death of Putin, the protection of Kabaeva has been significantly strengthened. All her movements outside the Valdai residence must be agreed upon and are extremely rare.
The channel refers to Kabaeva as ‘the civil wife of the deceased President of Russia’ and claims that she is on bad terms with the new leader of Russia. According to the channel, a close friend of the Russian president and former director of the Federal Security Service Nikolai Patrushev took over after Putin ‘died’:
Unlike the daughters of the deceased president, Kabaeva fell out of favour with the current leadership of #Russia, represented by Nikolai Patrushev.
The post ends on a particularly savage note, calling Kabaeva ‘the queen without a crown’ and explaining that she ‘has no power and no prospects’.
This wild story is doing the rounds
These claims that ‘Kabaeva currently has no freedom’ have been circulating on social media and both Knews and the Daily Star have picked the story up, but for now there is no solid evidence to back up these rumours.
Indeed, General SVR is known for pushing unverified stories. The channel has doubled down on their claims that the Russian President is dead, and have even claimed that his corpse was being held in a freezer. For now, there is no way to tell whether these reports about Kabaeva are true, but we’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for her next appearance in public.
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Sources used:
Knews: Putin's Rumored Gymnast Girlfriend Allegedly Under 'House Arrest,' Finds Herself 'Without Power And Prospects'
