Petition to expel “Putin’s girlfriend” gains traction

Team Udayavani, Mar 24, 2022, 9:22 AM IST

As the war in Ukraine intensifies, a petition has been launched on change.org, which targets a former gymnast claiming she is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “lover”. The petitioners, from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, are demanding that Switzerland expels the woman amid claims she is hiding with her three children in a luxury villa.

The former gymnast in question is 38-year-old Alina Kabaeva, an Olympic gold medalist. Several publications, like The Guardian, have claimed that Kabaeva is Putin’s girlfriend. The Russian President has, however, never officially recognised her.

The petition has received more than 50,000 signatures since being posted.

“It’s time you reunite Eva Braun with her Führer,” the strongly-worded petition said.

“Despite the current war, Switzerland continues to host an accomplice of Putin’s regime,” the petition further said. It has been posted in German, French and English.

The petition comes amid reports that Kabaeva was sent to Switzerland amid the war in Ukraine.

Known as “Russia’s most flexible woman”, Kabaeva spent six years as a Member of Parliament representing Putin’s United Russia Party.

She has been serving as the chairperson of the board of directors at National Media Group, a major pro-Kremlin media group, for more than seven years. According to The Daily Mail, she has been receiving a salary of almost £8 million a year.

Kabaeva is rarely seen in public. She was last captured on camera dancing at the Divine Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament in Moscow in December last year.

Kabaeva won gold in the 2004 Olympics for rhythmic gymnastics.

The petition on change.org says it is uniting the people of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which is currently undergoing immense suffering, to appeal to Swiss authorities.

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“The public has just learned that the Russian political and media figure, and former athlete, Alina Kabaeva, is hiding the consequences of the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation in YOUR country.”

It further says that for the first time in modern history, Switzerland has violated its neutrality.

NDTV