Calls to strip Olympic medals from Vladimir Putin's gymnast 'lover'
Vladimir Putin's opponents are calling for the IOC to strip the Olympic medals won by his gymnast 'lover' Alina Kabaeva, and for her to be deported from Switzerland.
Kabaeva is widely reported to be Putin's mistress and allegedly has a number of 'secret' children with the Russian president.
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The 38-year-old was a star gymnast and won gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, as well as a bronze in Sydney in 2000.
She also won 14 world championship medals and 21 European championship medals before retiring.
She is now reportedly on the board of directors at National Media Group, a pro-Kremlin newspaper and TV giant, earning around $10 million a year.
In recent years it has been widely reported that Kabaeva is Putin's 'lover' and has a number of children with him.
She is believed to be hiding out in Switzerland amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
This week, Putin's opponents in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia launched a number of petitions calling for action to be taken against Kabaeva.
One petition has called for Swiss authorities to investigate the gymnast's presence in their country, while another wants the International Olympic Committee to strip her medals.
“We, the citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which is currently undergoing immense suffering, are uniting to appeal to the Swiss authorities,” one petition states on Change.org.
“The public has just learned that the Russian political and media figure, and former [rhythmic gymnast], Alina Kabaeva, is hiding the consequences of the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation in your country.
“She is the favourite wife of delusional dictator and war criminal who has been treacherously attacking Ukraine over the past weeks.
“As she is supportive of social activities in Russia, she has been attempting to get Russian citizens accustomed to the reality of sanctions after 2014, and personally proclaimed: ‘The worse it gets, the better for us!’”
Alena Kabaeva's rumoured affair with Vladimir Putin
The petition calls for Switzerland to “investigate very carefully the legal basis on which she is present in your country".
However conflicting reports allege that Kabaeva is actually hiding out in a bunker in the Altai Mountains of Siberia.
Political scientist Valery Solovey said earlier this month: "In fact, it is not a bunker, but a whole underground city, equipped with the latest science and technology."
Another petition on Change.org has called for Kabaeva to be stripped of her Olympic medals, claiming "she and other supporters of Putin are no less culpable for terrorising the innocent people of Ukraine."
Rumours of an affair between Putin and Kabaeva began circulating in 2008 when she was working as a pro-Kremlin MP.
She disappeared from all public view after giving birth to twins in Lugano, Switzerland and stopped attending social events and giving interviews.
Putin has two adult children with ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebnev and has previously denied having a romantic relationship with Kabaeva.
He allegedly has four children with Kabaeva, who is 31 years his junior.
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