Is THIS Putin's secret teen lover? Despot had sordid trysts with calendar girl fan who was just 17, bombshell book says
The explosive claims come in "The Tsar in Person. How Vladimir Putin Fooled Us All", a freshly published tome by journalists Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin.
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Putin a relationship with the 17-year-old at a time when he was married to his then wife
Credit: East2West
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Putin would have been marking his 58th birthday when he encountered Alisa Kharcheva
Credit: AFP
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Rumours around Putin's relationship with Alisa have been reported before
Credit: AFP - Getty
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Putin would have been marking his 58th birthday when he encountered Alisa Kharcheva, then 17.
She was pictured illustrating the month of April in an "erotic calendar" as a "gift" to Putin by students at Moscow State University.
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But the calendar was actually a paid-for stunt from his PR machine to promote his macho image ahead of Russia's 2012 presidential election.
This is the election that saw him return to the presidency after a four year stint as prime minister.
"In reality, along with the calendar, Putin also received the contact details of the girls who appeared in it," according to the book.
"His choice fell on one - 17-year-old Alisa Kharcheva, a native of Korolyov, a town near Moscow, where she had already taken part in small beauty contests."
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Rumours around Putin's relationship with Alisa have been reported before, but the book offers fresh details that claim to confirm it.
This would mean Putin a relationship with her at a time when he was married to his then wife Lyudmila.
He was also having a secret affair with gymnast lover Alina Kabaeva, 42, which reportedly began around 2007.
Kabaeva would later give birth to two of the dictator's sons.
Putin's lookalike 'secret son' Ivan follows in gymnast mum's footsteps
"Four people familiar with the story told us that soon after [the calendar was published], Putin's aides called Kharcheva and invited her to the president's suburban residence," the book says.
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"After her first visit, the young beauty was taken to see the president about once every two weeks for the course of a year, according to one source."
Three months after Putin's birthday, Alisa appeared on TV show 'Ten Million'.
She dismissed comments about her age and the calendar was 'within the limits of what is permissible".
"He [Putin] liked it very much. His press secretary said that he liked it," she said.
A source told the authors: "For each meeting between Putin and Alisa we would prepare some sort of project, for her to present to Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin].
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"Alisa did this willingly. She felt grateful that she had been introduced to the president."
But it adds: "What went on in the Kremlin's alcoves between a 58-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl only they know."
She also reportedly was granted a place at the prestigious Moscow's Institute of International Relations as "a reward from Putin".
When Putin's interest in her began to wane, she published a photo on her social media titled Pussy for Putin to mark his 60th birthday.
"Kharcheva did indeed appear with a black kitten, but what caught the eye much more was the plunging neckline of her red dress," said the book.
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But Putin was apparently met with disapproval from Putin himself.
The book reads: "Very soon, Kharcheva deleted the post, as well as removing all her old photographs from public access.
"Neither she nor Putin's press service ever commented on this photo shoot."
She later acquired an expensive apartment in a prestigious district of Moscow.
Now 32 and married, Alisa previously denied the luxury flat was security for her by Putin.
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"No one has ever asked me such stupid questions," she said, claiming she paid for the mortgage.
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Given the documented accounts of the mass abduction of children, rape, torture and murder in territories seized by the Russian military to date, the abandonment of more than 250,000 Ukrainians (more than the population of Cork City) living in unoccupied Donetsk to Russian control would be an unimaginable cruelty. Ukraine is struggling to get enough troops to the frontline. An angry Trump cajoling and then threatening Zelenskyy to give Putin what he cannot, will further demoralise Ukrainians — or so Putin hopes — at a time when Russia has gained considerable territory during its summer offensive in Donetsk. Trump has form, having presided over a disastrous deal with the Taliban in 2020, the Doha Agreement, that excluded the then Afghan government, and helped spur the Taliban to victory the following year. The best hope may be that Trump, notoriously inattentive, will simply move on and leave diplomacy on the Ukraine war to others. Dr Edward Burke is a lecturer in war studies at University College Dublin
