Vladimir Putin has a lot to celebrate this Christmas. Not only has the Russian strongman consolidated his control over the proletariat — and all their oil and gas — he’s also been given his first son, sources say.
Alina Kabaeva, the gorgeous, 26-year-old rhythmic gymnastics champion, recently gave birth to a boy in Moscow and named the baby Dimitry, a moniker he’ll share with Putin’s handpicked president, Dimitry Medvedev.
Kabaeva has been identified as Putin’s girlfriend ever since she retired from competition in 2006 after winning two Olympic medals and 18 World Championship medals to become the most decorated gymnast in history.
Two years ago, the brunette was elected to the Duma, the Russian parliament, as a candidate of Putin’s political party.
Last year, when newspaper Moskovsky Korrespondent reported the rumor that Putin, 57, was divorcing his wife, Ludmila — the mother of his two daughters — to marry Alina, the paper was quickly shut down by its owner, Alexander Lebedev, who later bought London’s Evening Standard.
The 5-foot-4 Kabaeva — who is half-Muslim through her Tatar father — was born in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.
“She has confided to friends that she wants more children soon and she loves being a new mother,” one source told Page Six.
ReadRussia.com, one of the many Web sites reporting Putin’s presumed paternity, said, “The most puzzling part of this story is that at press time, not a single major Russian media [outlet] has reported that Kabaeva had a son.”
But one analyst told us, “Putin is very careful about his public image. Still, considering Russia’s Muslim population is about 30 million, it might not hurt him politically to have a beautiful, half-Muslim wife.”