Vladimir Putin’s rumored longtime mistress, Alina Kabaeva, recently broke her silence following her suspected split from the despotic Russian leader, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a surprising development to come after Putin, 71, and Kabaeva, 40, were said to have broken up earlier this year, the former Olympic gymnast spoke out regarding the Russian leader’s recent presidential election victory.
Kabaeva was in attendance when Putin gave his fifth inauguration address this week, according to Daily Star. He won Russia’s presidential election in March and successfully secured yet another six-year term as the nation’s leader.
“A special military operation is underway, it’s not easy, it’s complicated, but it’s great that the people came to the elections, supported the president, supported his policies, and we, as voters, see that our leader does not rely on foreign countries, but relies on his own people,” Kabaeva said regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine after Putin’s inauguration address.
“This is the key to all our successes and victories,” she added.
Kabaeva also appeared to discuss her career as an Olympic gymnast in comparison to Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
She compared athletes to warriors and insisted that “if management tells you to go, then you have to go.”
“An athlete is the same as a warrior,” she told the Russian reporters this week. “If management tells you to go, then you have to go.”
“If management says not to go, then don’t go,” Kabaeva added. “If the coach told me that it was impossible, whether I wanted it or not, then it was impossible.”
As RadarOnline.com previously noted, Kabaeva’s remarks this week came shortly after she and Putin were said to have split up after nearly 20 years together.
Putin has since been linked to a new woman named Ekaterina “Katya” Mizulina. Mizulina, 39, was described as a “Barbie type” who works as an art historian and runs Russia’s pro-Kremlin Safe Internet League.
“Katya Mizulina is completely to Putin’s taste,” one Russian insider said after Mizulina and Putin were first linked in February. “This Barbie type has always suited him very well.”
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“Putin is 71 years old, let’s not be ageist,” another Russian source quipped earlier this year. “In general, the man is in full bloom, why not?”
Kabaeva’s remarks at Putin’s inauguration address this week also came just a few weeks after she sighted in public for the first time since her and the Russian despot’s suspected split.
Kabaeva was photographed during a gymnastics training session in Sochi, Russia last month. Those who saw the pictures said that the former Olympian looked “sleepy” with “messy” and “dirty” hair.
“She looks sleepy, and her hair is messy,” one Russian wrote alongside an image of Kabaeva at the gymnastics competition in Sochi last month.
“Her hair looks dirty,” a second agreed.
“Alina, from my youth to now, you have always been beautiful, beautiful, with a strong core and intelligence,” another Russian wrote. “It's great that luck is with you, and you manage to do good things.”