The highly reserved
Vladimir Putin
naked in front of the whole world.
After jealously hiding his private life for years, the Russian president finds himself dealing with his secrets at least partially revealed: the Western sanctions for the war in Ukraine have in fact brought the 'tsar' family to the fore. , the official one and the unofficial ones.
Amid luxury villas in Europe, lavish weddings and secret lives away from the spotlight, Putin's closest entourage, the one the Russian president believes he must protect for national security reasons, emerges from the veil of secrecy that has surrounded him for years.
He goes to his
two recognized daughters - Maria and Katya from ex-wife Lyumila Ocheretnaya
-, to
alleged four illegitimate children
and to mistresses, including
gymnast Alina Kabaeva
with whom the relationship would continue even now.
Although shadows remain on the figures and breadth of the Tsar's family, what is certain is that the "members are the beneficiaries of a kleptocratic system in which Putin commands as a mafia godfather, with lieutenant oligarchs paying tribute in the form of wealth and villas to all those in Putin's affective sphere ", comments the New York Times in an X-ray of Putin's family that starts from the 2008 visit to Villa Certosa di Maria in Katya.
Silvio Berlusconi's guests in Sardinia, the two launched into luxurious shopping and boat excursions as long as they remained anonymous.
Katya, now over 40, is Putin's 'most disciplined' daughter.
She is
married to Kirill Shamalov
, the son of Nikolai Shamalov, a close ally of the Russian president and major shareholder of Bank Rossiya, the tsar's bank.
The two got married in one of Putin's favorite ski resorts, Igora, in a sumptuous ceremony between skating rinks and plays of light.
Her sister Maria also took part in the wedding, who arrived from Holland with her husband
Jorrit Faassen
.
For decades Maria has lived in the Netherlands but since 2014, when Russian separatists shot down a Malaysia Airlines plane that departed from Amsterdam, she has become the subject of much criticism among neighbors and beyond.
A Ukrainian flag with the words 'Ave Maria Putin' was recently planted on a plot of land near Amsterdam, bought in the past by Faasen.
But the Russian president's emotional entourage includes several other unofficial women.
There is
Svetlana Krivonogikh
, a former St. Petersburg cleaner who allegedly had an affair with Putin.
The woman is now a real estate queen, a board member of Bank Rossiya and a shareholder of the Igora ski resort where Kathya has moved.
From her relationship with Putin she was born
Elizaveta Vladimirovna Krivonogikh.
The two lived in a luxurious property in Monte Carlo.
The woman of the moment, however, is
Kabaeva, the former Russian gymnastics champion
who, according to some rumors, is Putin's wife.
Alina Kabaeva lives in Switzerland with her children from the Tsar in a prestigious clinic in Lugano.
It is she who has ended up in the crosshairs of British sanctions and against which a petition has been launched in Switzerland to expel her.
Kabaeva was recently seen in Moscow but, as with all members of Putin's family, it was a second apparition.
Then on her, as on the rest of the family, a veil fell again, even if this time - thanks to the sanctions - much lighter and more transparent.
