Does Vladimir Putin have a ‘secret’ 10-year-old son?

Vladimir Putin’s alleged children continue to make headlines. After reports of a ‘secret’ daughter in Paris, there are now claims of photos of the Russian president’s purported son being leaked.

Putin, 72, officially has two children from a previous marriage to former flight attendant Lyudmila Ocheretnaya — daughters Maria, 37, and Katerina, 35. However, reports about his alleged children out of marriage keep emerging every now and then.

Let’s take a closer look.

Who is Putin’s ‘secret’ son?

An anti-Kremlin website has claimed the first pictures of Russian President Vladimir Putin ’s 10-year-old secret son have surfaced.

The images of Ivan Vladimirovich Putin were unveiled by the Telegram channel VChk-OGPU, reported Daily Mail. Putin is said to have had the boy with his rumoured longtime partner, ex-Olympian Alina Kabaeva.

“VChK-OGPU [channel] has obtained a photo of the most secret and probably the loneliest boy in Russia”, a report by the anti-Kremlin Telegram channel with connection to law enforcement and the secret services said.

The boy is said to take after Putin in his Soviet childhood.

The post reads, “This is Ivan Vladimirovich Putin. He hardly communicates with other children, spending all his time with guards, governesses, [and] teachers.”

Ivan also has a four-year-old brother, Vladimir Junior, who was not pictured in the released images.

The Russian president has never admitted to his reported relationship with 41-year-old Kabaeva. When asked about rumours about him dating the famed gymnast in a 2008 news conference in Italy, he dismissed them, saying: “I always disliked people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person’s life.”

However, Dossier Centre, an investigative news outlet, confirmed last September that Kabaeva had two sons with Putin. Ivan, an avid hockey player, was reportedly born in 2015 at a maternity clinic in Lugano, Switzerland.

The children are constantly guarded by FSO [Federal Protective Service] officers.

“The brothers have little contact with their peers and see little of their parents, but they appreciate the rare moments they manage to spend with their father,” said Dossier Centre, as per Daily Mail.

The boys do not attend school but are taught in Putin’s high-security palaces.

According to the investigative report from Dossier Center, Putin and Kabaeva, an Olympic gold medalist, likely began their alleged romantic relationship in 2008.

On the birth of Ivan, the Russian president shouted in elation: ‘Hurray! Finally! A boy!’” New York Post reported, citing a source in Russian media.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Putin sent the entire family to Switzerland, Page Six reported.

“Alina has two young boys and twin girls with Putin who were born in Switzerland,” a source claimed. “While Putin carries out his assault on Ukraine, attacking innocent citizens and causing a refugee crisis, his family is holed up in a very private and very secure chalet somewhere in Switzerland,” the source told Page Six in 2022.

Putin’s ‘little ones’

Putin has kept his personal life out of the limelight. However, five months back, he mentioned watching fairy tale films with “my little ones”, as per Daily Mail.

The Russian president said, “Our historic fairy tales and epic tales are being revived. I myself sometimes watch these with pleasure with my little ones.”

RT translated his words as “my junior family members”.

As per the Dossier Center, Ivan is a fan of Disney cartoons and movies, much to the chagrin of his father.

Vladimir Putin’s other children

Before Ivan, media reports about Putin ’s ‘secret’ daughter came to light.

Last year, Ukrainian news programme TSN reported that Putin’s alleged illegitimate daughter, Elizaveta Krivonogikh, is living in Paris and working as a DJ.

She goes by Luiza Rozova or Elizaveta Olegovna Rudnova and “vanished” before the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war.

Rozova is the child of Putin and Svetlana Krivonogikh, a former cleaner who is now a multimillionaire, reported TSN.

The Russian president’s two eldest daughters, Maria and Katerina, have also stayed away from the spotlight. As per a Business Insider report, Maria, a medical researcher, is married to Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen.

Katerina is an accomplished acrobatic dancer and a tech executive.

Putin is also known to have grandchildren from his two eldest daughters.

With inputs from agencies