Putin's Divorce Dents Public Armor -The iPINIONS Journal

Russian President Vladimir Putin (60) has become an international laughing stock for staging photo ops to make himself look more like an action hero than a political leader. Not least because so many of his stunts, like pretending to escort migrating cranes in a glider, make him look more like Johnny English than James Bond.

I coined the term ‘putinization of Russia’ to describe Putin’s neo-Stalinist tactics, which were (and are) clearly aimed at neutralizing all political dissent, quashing all civil liberties, and making himself into a latter-day czar.

(“Hail Putin,” The iPINIONS Journal, December 3, 2007)

Yet such is his shamelessness that he thought nothing of trying to convince the public a few years ago that his persona as an action man is matched only by his role as a family man. He did this by staging an Edward R. Murrow-style Person-to-Person interview at home with his wife (and dog).

The only problem is that even I knew Putin the family man – who ostensibly relished nothing more than emulating the traditional domestic bliss popularized by Ozzie and Harriet – was every bit as fake as Putin the action hero – who once staged his discovery of ancient Greek vases on a dive in the Black Sea … reportedly to foster national pride.

The reported reason for this rare look into his family life was Putin’s wish to encourage all Russians to participate in the country’s forthcoming census. Unfortunately, the only message most people got from this photo op pertained to the long-rumored breakup of his marriage.

Speculation has been rife in recent years about Putin leaving, perhaps even divorcing, his 52-year-old wife, Lyudmila, to set up home with a 27-year-old former Olympic champion gymnast named Alina Kabayeva. There are even reports that Putin has fathered a child with this other woman.

(“Putin’s Photo Op Flop,” The iPINIONS Journal, October 20, 2010)

Hell, Putin has gone to such ridiculous lengths to display his fidelity to family life that he even exhorted Russians to make their country a superpower again by marrying young and making babies. This is why his latest stunt came as such a surprise.

Putin and his wife – who have been married for almost 30 years and have two daughters – made a rare public appearance on Thursday to attend a performance of Esmeralda at the Grand Kremlin Palace. But then, in a typically awkward yet brazen bit of stagecraft, they left the performance and headed straight to a theatrically placed reporter, with camera crew in tow, to announce their divorce.

After allowing Putin and Lyudmila to lavish praise on the ballet, despite leaving after the first act, the reporter asked if their rare public appearances in recent years mean that they no longer live together. They responded to this obviously scripted (i.e., Putin-approved) question as follows:

‘This is so,’ he said… ‘Yes, this is a civilized divorce,’ Lyudmila said.

(Associated Press, June 6, 2013)

Alas, the big pink elephant upstaging their performance was the unspoken reason for their divorce. And Lyudmila only made it more conspicuous, unwittingly, by citing her public shyness and fear of flying; not least because both are belied by the fact that she’s a former Aeroflot flight attendant.

That proverbial elephant, of course, is Putin’s rumored mistress, Alina. What’s more, anyone who knows the story of Esmeralda will appreciate how much it dramatizes the conflicted and compromised relationships Putin, Lyudmila, and Alina have been living out in real life. Which raises the question: Did Putin intend to convey more than he was prepared to say by choosing this ballet as the backdrop for announcing the dissolution of his marriage…?

Whatever the case, there seems little doubt that the only reason for imploding his carefully crafted image in this way is to bring the hot Alina in from the cold: to be his publicly recognized lover, even if not his lawfully wedded wife. And, in true czarist form, Putin will use his state media to eventually turn the carnal vice she personifies into a political virtue in the court of public opinion.

That said, the only reason I’m commenting is to revel in how he exposed himself in this photo op to be as big a phony in his private life as he is in his public life:

If these politicians were not lead vocals in a chorus of moral crusaders, I would not give their sexual escapades a moment’s thought. For the unadulterated pleasure of afflicting these hypocrites, however, I don’t even mind being bedfellows with a publicity-seeking hustler like Larry Flynt [who once vowed to out them all].

(“Why ‘Hypocritical Politician’ Is Becoming Redundant,” The iPINIONS Journal, June 18, 2009)

NOTE: It would not surprise me to learn that Putin decided to trade in his old wife for a younger model after being counseled, if not egged on, by his bunga bunga buddy, former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi – who did the same himself, finally settling divorce terms only months ago.