According to a Russian opposition source, Vladimir Putin’s rumoured lover has two new luxury homes in NATO member Turkey, according to the Daily Mail.
Olympic gold medalist Alina Kabaeva, 39, is said to own a summer home in southern Turkey as well as a home in Istanbul.
According to Russian-born Israeli businessman Leonid Nevzlin, 62, a former co-owner of oil giant Yukos and a leading Putin foe, the properties were arranged in Turkey through an intermediary and close aide of the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kabaeva is widely believed to be Putin’s mistress and the mother of four of his children, whom he has never officially acknowledged.
According to Nevzlin, an intermediary ‘arranged the purchase of a summer house for Alina Kabaeva in southern Turkey and a house in Istanbul through a close aide of Erdogan.’
He claimed Erdogan ‘allocated’ his presidential guard to the expensive ‘homes.’ However, no specifics about the alleged properties were provided, according to the Daily Mail.
During the current conflict in Ukraine, Kabaeva has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Canada for alleged close personal ties to Putin.
Despite previous official denials of a relationship, there is speculation that she has several children with the Kremlin leader.
Nevzlin provided no specific evidence to support his claim about the two alleged homes.
By Brendan Taylor