In a stilted – but clearly staged – interview on Russian state television after a night together at the ballet, the couple said they had agreed to a “civilised break-up” because they barely saw each other. It appeared that a formal divorce had not yet taken place.
The announcement will likely only fuel speculation about Mr Putin’s private life. The 60-year-old Russian president has been dogged by rumours for years that he had an affair with Alina Kabayeva, a 30-year-old politician and former Olympic rhythmic gymnast, although no hard evidence has ever been presented to confirm that.
The Russian leader and his wife, 55, spoke after attending a performance of La Esmeralda – a ballet inspired by the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame – at the State Kremlin palace, their first public engagement together since his returned to the presidency in May last year.
Mrs Putina appears only very rarely in public. She was said to be living far away from the Kremlin, in a £1m state-owned retreat on the border with Estonia. Some reports even suggested she joined a convent. » | Tom Parfitt, Moscow | Thursday, June 06, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Vladimir Putin breaks Kremlin taboo by revealing break-up with wife: President Vladimir Putin's carefully stage-managed announcement that he and his wife of 30 years were divorcing came as a true shock in Russia. ¶ That his marriage to Lyudmila, a quiet ex-stewardess with an inherent dislike of publicity, may have long been dead has for years been the subject of gossip among the elites and ordinary Russians. ¶ But the Kremlin's move to officially announce Putin's divorce smashed a long-standing taboo on the private lives of the country's leaders. » | AFP | Friday, June 07, 2013
