Putin Gets Divorced, Rumors Spread About Love Child
Lover
After 30 years together, Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila are calling it quits. Russian newswire Ria Novosti reported Thursday that the couple was getting a divorce.
?Yes, you could say this is a civilized divorce,? Lyudmila said in response to a journalist?s question, following the couple?s joint outing to a ballet performance. It was reportedly the first time they had been seen in public since the president?s inauguration in May 2012. The couple blamed the President?s work hours and a busy public life, one in which Lyudmila had apparently grown tired of.
?Some people like this, some don?t,? President Putin told Ria Novosti.
The Russian media said that Putin was courting a younger women, former Olympic medalist Alina Kabayeva. Alina is 30 years younger than former KGB man Putin and actively involved in Russian politics and social causes. Putin denied the rumors.
According to Itar Tass, a Russian newswire, the paper that reported their ?friendship? ? Moskovsky Korrespondent ? has been shut down. Its billionaire owner, Aleksandr Lebedev, obviously doesn?t want to end up on Putin?s hit list.
The New York Post, hardly a bastion of accuracy given its cover story errors of the Boston Marathon bombers back in April, said that Putin had fathered a son with Alina three years ago and now has a six month old baby girl with Alina.
Foreign media water cooler whispers say Putin has Alina and their two kids living in a palatial retreat in Sochi on the Black Sea.
If this is the case, Putin may be the first world leader to have been discovered to have fathered children with a lover, and divorced his wife while in office. There?s a first time for everything.
Last year, Russia ranked as the No. 1 country in the world for divorce rates. Overall, however, the United States is No. 1, with a divorce rate of 4.95 per 1,000 couples. Russia?s divorce rate is around 3.4 per 1,000.
Rarely does a president get a divorce while in office. Italian playboy Premier Silvio Berlusconi got divorced after he left office. France?s former leader Nicolas Sarkozy divorced his wife Cecilia Abinez before he became president and married ex-model Carla Bruni around two years later. They are still together.
In the United States, Ronald Reagan was the only president who ever got a divorce, but he left that first marriage so early in life and moved on to Nancy. The two were together in the White House and up to his death in June 2004. Other presidents, like Bill Clinton and Franklin Roosevelt, faced the possibility of divorce after their wives discovered an affair, but both kept the marriage together, some say for the sake of their political careers.
Lover
After 30 years together, Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila are calling it quits. Russian newswire Ria Novosti reported Thursday that the couple was getting a divorce.
?Yes, you could say this is a civilized divorce,? Lyudmila said in response to a journalist?s question, following the couple?s joint outing to a ballet performance. It was reportedly the first time they had been seen in public since the president?s inauguration in May 2012. The couple blamed the President?s work hours and a busy public life, one in which Lyudmila had apparently grown tired of.
?Some people like this, some don?t,? President Putin told Ria Novosti.
The Russian media said that Putin was courting a younger women, former Olympic medalist Alina Kabayeva. Alina is 30 years younger than former KGB man Putin and actively involved in Russian politics and social causes. Putin denied the rumors.
According to Itar Tass, a Russian newswire, the paper that reported their ?friendship? ? Moskovsky Korrespondent ? has been shut down. Its billionaire owner, Aleksandr Lebedev, obviously doesn?t want to end up on Putin?s hit list.
The New York Post, hardly a bastion of accuracy given its cover story errors of the Boston Marathon bombers back in April, said that Putin had fathered a son with Alina three years ago and now has a six month old baby girl with Alina.
Foreign media water cooler whispers say Putin has Alina and their two kids living in a palatial retreat in Sochi on the Black Sea.
If this is the case, Putin may be the first world leader to have been discovered to have fathered children with a lover, and divorced his wife while in office. There?s a first time for everything.
Last year, Russia ranked as the No. 1 country in the world for divorce rates. Overall, however, the United States is No. 1, with a divorce rate of 4.95 per 1,000 couples. Russia?s divorce rate is around 3.4 per 1,000.
Rarely does a president get a divorce while in office. Italian playboy Premier Silvio Berlusconi got divorced after he left office. France?s former leader Nicolas Sarkozy divorced his wife Cecilia Abinez before he became president and married ex-model Carla Bruni around two years later. They are still together.
In the United States, Ronald Reagan was the only president who ever got a divorce, but he left that first marriage so early in life and moved on to Nancy. The two were together in the White House and up to his death in June 2004. Other presidents, like Bill Clinton and Franklin Roosevelt, faced the possibility of divorce after their wives discovered an affair, but both kept the marriage together, some say for the sake of their political careers.
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