Alina Kabaeva

About Alina Kabaeva

Alina Maratovna Kabaeva (or Kabayeva) (Russian Cyrillic: Алина Маратовна Кабаева; Tatar Cyrillic: Әлинә Марат кызы Кабаева) is a Russian-Uzbek politician, musician, media manager and retired rhythmic gymnast. She has been designated Honoured Master of Sports by the Russian government.

In 2001, Kabaeva appeared in the Japanese film Red Shadow, performing a gymnastics routine. Since 2005, she has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia. From 2007 to 2014, she was a State Duma deputy from United Russia. Since February 2008, she has been chairwoman of the Public Council of the National Media Group, which controls Izvestia, Channel One and REN TV. In January 2011, she appeared on the cover of Vogue Russia and launched her singing career, taking to the stage for the first time. In September 2014, she became chairwoman of the board of directors of the National Media Group.

Kabaeva is of Russian and Tatar descent. In April 2008, the Moskovsky Korrespondent reported that Kabaeva was engaged to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The story was denied and the newspaper was shut down. In the following years, the status of Kabaeva and Putin's relationship became a topic of speculation, including allegations that they have multiple children together. In July 2013, Kabaeva said that she did not have children. In March 2015, she was reported to have given birth to a daughter at the VIP hospital of Saint Ann in Ticino, Switzerland. In 2019, she reportedly gave birth to twin sons at the Kulakov maternity clinic in Moscow. However, the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported in 2022 that a Swiss gynecologist of Russian origin assisted at both births, stating that the first in 2015 was of a boy and the second in 2019 of another boy, and that both were Vladimir Putin's sons.