THE TELEGRAPH: Little is known about the childhood of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, despite his position as one of the world's most powerful men. Now in an extraordinary development, a Georgian woman has come forward to say she is his mother.
Vera Putina, 82, has claimed he is the child she gave away at the age of ten, giving an account of an unhappy childhood which is fiercely disputed by the Kremlin:
Vera Putina lives hand-to-mouth in rural Georgia but displays the famous hospitality of the people of the Caucuses. Draping a cloth over the table in her garden, she piles it with fruit, nuts and shot glasses of chacha – homemade vodka.
Her house sits on a dirt track in the village of Metekhi, about 12 miles from Gori which was occupied by Russian tanks this August during the conflict over the breakaway state of South Ossetia. A tiny woman, with gnarled worker's hands, only Mrs Putina's strong cheekbones and deep-set, piercing blue eyes are suggestive of who she claims she is.
"I used to be proud of having a son who became President of Russia. Since the war I am ashamed."
Since Russian-born Mrs Putina saw Vladimir Putin on the television in 1999, she has been convinced he is her estranged son. Backed up by other residents in Metekhi, Mrs Putina claims he lived in the village between the ages of two-and-a-half and ten before being sent back to his grandparents in Ochyor, Russia.
Records in the archives of Metekhi's closest town, Caspi, indicate that a Vladmir Putin was registered at Metekhi school, 1959-1960, stated nationality: Georgian.
Mrs Putina's account is at odds with the Kremlin's version of events and Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin's spokesman, yesterday dismissed the claims: "The story is not true. It does not correspond to reality at all." >>> By Kate Weinberg in Georgia | December 5, 2008
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