Vladimir Putin, Russian president, has looked
gloomier than usual in recent times. In June, The New Yorker
reports a television reporter approached Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, in
the Grand Kremlin Palace. The First Couple was leaving after the first act of
the ballet “La Esmeralda.” After a few minutes of small talk about music and
dancing, she asked a most impossible question: Why did they appear so rarely in
public together? Putin’s response, confirmed by his wife: they had decided it
was time for them to divorce. This is not the first time ballet happened to be
the setting for a Russian personal and political drama: back in August, 1991,
state television was playing “Swan Lake” just as Communists attempted a coup.
The New Yorker added that Putin has never appeared in public with his family;
the Russian people have never even seen either of his two daughters. On the very
rare occasions that he even mentioned his daughters, Putin hasn’t said their
names—he just refers to them as “they”. His wife Lyudmila barely acted as the
First Lady. After the first years of his tenure she stopped accompanying him
abroad, and more or less disappeared from the scene. A common half-serious
suggestion was that Putin had had her locked in a nunnery—just as the Russian
tsars did when they sought to get rid of unwanted tsarinas.
The London Independent
reported Friday that Putin cut a lonely figure after he was spotted
wandering by himself through the streets of St Petersburg.
On Friday, the Russian leader was seen pensively walking through the city
following the funeral of his Judo instructor Anatoly Rakhlin. Putin marched on
wearing a moody look and avoiding eye contact, while his aides and security
rushed to catch up with him.
The newspaper said Putin is known to be a master in the dojo when it comes to
Judo and it is clear that the death of Rakhlin has affected him deeply. Rakhlin
had reportedly been battling a long illness and considered himself to be a
second father to the president.
Finfacts, Aug 09, 2013: Russia has more than 110,000 small business owners in jail
