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 medal-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 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 notoriously despises questions about his personal life.
“I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected,” he once said. “I have always reacted negatively to those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives.”
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.
Putin and Shkrebneva were married for three decades until their divorce in 2013. Their daughter Maria was born in Leningrad in 1985, while Katerina was born in Germany in 1986 when the family lived there during Putin’s time in the KGB.
Kabaeva is one of the most decorated gymnasts in rhythmic gymnastic history, with two Olympic medals, 14 World Championship medals and 21 European Championship medals.
She was dubbed “Russia’s most flexible woman” and once posed nude, while wrapped in animal fur, for a men’s magazine.
In 2008, Russian newspaper the Moskovsky Korrespondent ran a story reporting that Putin had divorced his wife and was set to marry Kabaeva. The story was denied by the Kremlin and the newspaper was shut down.
However, speculation continued about Putin’s relationship with the former gymnast, including numerous reports and allegations that they have multiple children together. Sources alleged they may have even married in a private Russian Orthodox ceremony.
Kabaeva went on to become a pro-Kremlin member of parliament for eight years, and in 2014 was appointed by the Kremlin to run the state-owned National Media Group, with a reported salary of $10 million a year.
Despite the high-profile role, she has rarely been seen in public over the last few years.
Kabaeva denied having any children at all in July 2013, amid reports that she had given birth to a daughter at the elite hospital of Saint Ann in Ticino, Switzerland.
Adding to the confusion, in 2019, she reportedly gave birth to twin sons at the Kulakov maternity clinic in Moscow.
As for Putin’s alleged decision to hide his family in Switzerland, he may have underestimated the country.
Switzerland’s decision not to remain neutral and to adopt a tough stance on Russia has shocked many in the international community.
The Swiss Federal Council announced on Feb. 28 that it froze assets of a list of Russian individuals and companies, noting that “the financial sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are also to be implemented with immediate effect.”
It is not immediately clear how these sanctions could affect Putin’s kids and Kabaeva, given they all allegedly hold Swiss passports, and his assets are carefully hidden.
While Putin has remained silent about his children, his ex-wife called him a loving and doting father via the Russian leader’s government website.
“Not all fathers are as loving with their children as he is,” Shkrebneva’s quote on the site reads. “And he has always spoiled them, while I was the one who had to discipline them.”
It was recently reported that Putin hid his first wife and their daughters in an “underground city” in Siberia.
The luxury high-tech bunker is located in the Altai Mountains and was designed for protection in the event of a nuclear war, said political scientist Valery Solovey, who has previously been known for spreading conspiracy theories.
Observers have noted multiple ventilation points in the grounds surrounding the mountain hideout, and a high-voltage line linked to an ultra-modern 110-kilovolt substation, enough to power a small city.
