Alina Maratovna Kabaeva was born on May 12, 1983, in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR (today’s Uzbekistan), then-Soviet Union. Kabaeva has had a very successful career as a rhythmic gymnast, a sport she embarked on at the age of three.
Throughout her career, Kabaeva has won 25 European Championship medals and 14 World Championship medals. She was also a two-time absolute world champion and a five-time absolute European champion
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In addition Alina Kabaeva went on to win two Olympic medals. The first one was bronze at 2000 Sydney. And in 2004, the Russian gymnast conquered gold at the Athens Olympics in the Individual All-Around for Rhythmic Gymnastics.In 2001, Kabaeva tested positive for furosemide (a diuretic) and was banned for a year.Kabaeva claimed the substance came from tainted pills she bought at a pharmacy.
Alina Kabaeva’s contributions to rhythmic gymnastics are noteworthy. She even gave her own twist to some movements, including the way she performed a back split pivot, which became known as her signature move: “The Kabaeva.
“Kabaeva can be seen performing a gymnastics routine in the Japanese movie ‘Red Shadow’ (2001), directed by Hiroyuki Nakano.After her successful career as a gymnast, Alina Kabaeva embarked on new careers, in both politics and media.Kabaeva represented the United Russia party as a Member of the Russian Parliament between 2007 and 2014.
Her salary was 11 million rubles, about US$140,000. In September 2014, Kabaeva abandoned her political career and accepted the position of chair of the board of directors of the National Media Group. The group controls the country’s major media outlets, including Izvestia, Channel One, and REN TV. Kabaeva was heavily criticized for both her lack of experience for the role and the huge annual salary package (reportedly around US$12 million).
In April 2008, the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Korrespondent reported that the President and Kabaeva were engaged. The Kremlin denied the story and the newspaper was shut down.
Putin responded to newspaper report of his alleged relationship, saying: “I have always disliked those who, with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies, break into other people’s private affairs.”
However, it has been speculated that Kabaeva and Putin have maintained a relationship for many years, and indeed it has been reported that the two even have children together. This, however, has always been denied by both.
Rumors have spread that Kabaeva had a daughter at Clinic Sant’Anna in Ticino, Switzerland, and that she gave birth to twin sons at the Kulakov maternity clinic in Moscow. Again, this information has not been confirmed by either Kabaeva or the Russian President.
It has been rumored that the spark between the two occurred in 2014, when Kabaeva was selected as a torchbearer at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. In 2013, Putin announced that he had separated from his wife of 30 years, Lyudmila Shkrebneva. One year later, the couple was legally divorced. Several sanctions were imposed on numerous Russian politicians and business people in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has not been the case with Kabaeva, however. This is because the US believes sanctioning Kabaeva might be perceived as a personal attack on Putin.Former US intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler disagrees with the country’s position, saying that sanctioning Kabaeva would “certainly hurt” and “make her life miserable.” And “it will definitely, definitely [cause] some damage to his holdings, his wealth that is stashed away in all kinds of tax havens including spread among his relatives and family,” Koffler added.
Kabaeva has been reportedly spending time in Switzerland ever since the Russia-Ukraine conflict started.She was reportedly sighted at both a luxury residence in Lugano and another one in Cologny. The Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police released a statement that denied this, however, saying: “We have no indication of the presence of this person in Switzerland.” More recently, Kabaeva made a rare public appearance at the VTB Arena in Moscow during the ‘Alina’ festival (named after her).
Kabaeva could be seen in front of a billboard with “Z” logos (the symbol used in support of Russia’s military operations).
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, MukTv, FoxNews, Page Six
