Vladimir Putin offered a rare, brief glimpse into his heart, as Russia’s dictatorial leader let slip that he is currently in love.
During Putin’s annual year-end news conference, a highly-orchestrated affair in which he takes questions from journalists and phone calls from Russian citizens, Regina Orekhova of Russian state media affiliate 360 addressed Putin and said, “You said today that you believe love at first sight exists. Mr. President, are you in love?”
“Yes,” said Russia’s 73-year-old president. He did not expound further.
Though Putin didn’t offer any details about the object of his affections, the secretive Russian president is believed to have had a relationship with former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 42, for eighteen years. The pair is rumored to have two children together, aged ten and six, living under the pseudonyms Ivan Spirodonov and Vladimir Spirodonov.
Putin was married to Lyudmila Putina from 1983 until at least 2008, and the pair has two daughters, Maria and Yekaterina Putina.
In 2008, Russian newspaper Moskovsky Korrespondent reported that Putin and Lyudmila had divorced and that Putin was engaged to Kabaeva. The government denied the story, and the paper was shut down shortly thereafter. The Kremlin formally announced Putin and Lyudmila’s divorce in April 2014.
During the 2014 edition of his year-end press conference, Putin gave a nearly identical answer about his love life as he did on Friday. Then, he told an anecdote about a European friend grilling him on romance, to which Putin admitted he loved someone who loved him back. He didn’t offer details about the woman then, either.
Putin has been romantically linked to multiple women throughout his time in power, including 50-year-old Svetlana Krivonogikh, with whom he’s also rumored to have a child, and Alisa Kharcheva, a former Miss Russia contestant who was 17 when Putin first seduced her.
Putin’s coy response about his romantic life on Friday was a brief moment of levity in what was otherwise a stern news conference in which the president vowed that the Kremlin’s military goals in Ukraine would be achieved.
Putin promised not to interfere in a Ukrainian election to replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term ended in 2024 but has not left office due to Ukraine’s rules about changing regimes during wartime.
Putin has refused to recognize Zelensky as a legitimate leader since his term expired, and has demanded his removal as part of Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations.
He also gave President Donald Trump his vocal support in Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC. “It’s obvious. I think President Trump is right,” said Putin.
Trump’s lawsuit accused the British broadcaster of “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively” editing a speech Trump made before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to imply he’d encouraged the insurrection.
