Ten years ago this week, a curious thing happened: during the intermission of a ballet performance at the State Kremlin Palace, Vladimir Putin and his wife of thirty years gave an interview to a TV news crew where they revealed that they were no longer married. It was a brief exchange, but it’s also one of the rare moments in his long presidency when Putin spoke openly about his family life.

Back in June 2013, there was already wide speculation about Vladimir Putin’s secret love life, which focused largely on his alleged relationship with former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva. Since then, investigative journalists have uncovered a lot more, digging up evidence of other lovers, other children, and the elaborate schemes Putin and his entourage use to conceal their wealth and corruption.

On this week’s show, to discuss the latest revelations about Putin’s family, The Naked Pravda spoke to investigative journalists Roman Badanin, the founder and editor-in-chief of Proekt Media, and Andrey Zakharov, a special correspondent who’s reported groundbreaking stories at outlets like Fontanka News, RBC, Proekt, and BBC News Russian. The interviews focus particularly on a June 1, 2023, story about Putin’s ex-son-in-law and a November 2020 article about the president’s apparent third daughter.

Timestamps for this episode:

(5:55) After all these years, what’s still surprising about Putin’s secret family life?
(10:18) Why does Putin’s family like to keep marriages and properties off official records?
(13:32) How property ownership works in Putin’s inner circle
(15:45) Ukrainian drones
(18:51) The biggest blind spots for journalists when it comes to Putin
(23:26) Why all the secrecy?
(27:34) Finding Putin’s third daughter

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Putin's private life and off-the-books family

The Naked Pravda