After disappearing from public view in 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rumoured long-term lover Alina Kabaeva is thought to be hiding in Switzerland with their four young children, according to sources in March 2022.

The 38-year-old former Olympic rhythmic gymnast is reportedly hunkering down as Putin continues his invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and massive economic sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia. “While Putin conducts his assault on Ukraine, attacking innocent citizens and causing a refugee crisis, his family is holed up in a very private and very secure chalet somewhere in Switzerland — at least for the time being,” a source told Page Six. f his hidden twins?

According to another source, Kabaeva and the Russian president have two boys and twin girls, all of whom were born in Switzerland. “The kids all have Swiss passports, and I’m sure she does as well,” the source said. Kabaeva has spent more than half of her life in the spotlight in Russia, first as a talented gymnast and later as a model, politician, and media mogul.

When she first backflipped onto the world stage in a burst of sequins, she was a teenager.

Her strength, limberness, and skill with the ball and ribbons of rhythmic gymnastics earned her the title of “Russia’s most supple woman.”

The then-married Putin, himself a judo and ice hockey enthusiast, first met Kabaeva when she was at the pinnacle of her athletic fame, winning a bronze medal in Sydney in 2000 and a gold medal in Athens four years later, according to The Sunday Times.

Kabaeva, who was born in Uzbekistan, tried out a number of new careers after retiring from gymnastics in 2005, all of which capitalised on her gymnastics fame.

An attempt at a singing career was made and then abandoned.

She modelled on occasion, once appearing on the cover of Vogue Russia in a $33,000 gold gown.

She served in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, for eight years, having been recruited by and running under Putin’s United Russia party.

But it wasn’t until 2008 that she was dubbed Russia’s “Secret First Lady.”

A Russian tabloid reported that Putin was dating a woman half his age, Kabaeva, and that he planned to divorce his wife of 30 years in order to marry her.

The paper was forced to close shortly after its exclusive, citing “financial difficulties” to its billionaire owner.

Since then, the Kremlin has categorically denied any relationship, and Putin has remained defiantly silent on the subject.

It’s considered risky to even ask in the Russian press.

According to The Sunday Times, Putin said, “I’ve always had a negative feeling about people poking their snotty noses and erotic fantasies into other people’s lives.”

It’s largely up to Europe’s tabloids to keep the rumour mill churning.

When Putin divorced his wife, Lyudmila Putina, a former Aeroflot flight attendant and the mother of the strongman’s two acknowledged children, rumours flew.

“I like all Russian women,” the new bachelor snapped, brushing aside questions about whether he was dating anyone else.

Kabaeva became more coquettish after Putin’s divorce, telling the press only that she had met someone “whom I love very much.”

“Sometimes you’re so happy that you’re scared,” she added cryptically.

The following year, ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, it was rumoured — incorrectly, it turned out — that Kabaeva would light the Olympic flame.

Kabaeva later wore a billowing red gown while hosting a gymnastics competition in Moscow, sparking a new round of pregnancy rumours.

Then, in 2017, during a trip to Italy’s Adriatic coast, Kabaeva flashed what appeared to be a wedding ring — a band on the fourth finger of her right hand, as is customary for married women in Russia.

She had just been named an ambassador for the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, and she told the press that it was “a fantastic opportunity.”

Even as she appeared to flash the ring to the cameras, she dodged questions about it, instead saying of herself, “The fact that Russia’s representative was entrusted to take up this post means our country’s recognition.”

Despite being one of her country’s most eligible women, Kabaeva has remained unattached to any other suitors over the years, according to Express.

According to the same source, Kabaeva’s eldest child is a boy born in 2009; she also gave birth to a girl in 2013.

Despite the fact that most sources claim her children were born in Switzerland, some reports claim her sons were born in a Moscow hospital in May 2019.

According to an exiled investigative journalist with Russian intelligence sources, the twins were delivered via caesarean section on a VIP floor that had been cleared of all other patients.

According to the Sunday Times, the good news about Kabaeva’s new babies appeared briefly on the website of a respected Russian newspaper.

It “vanished without a trace soon after, prompting speculation that the Kremlin had intervened to protect Putin’s privacy.”