Imagine If We Shut Down Newspapers That Made Mistakes

We noted the other day the story about Vladimir Putin dumping his wife for some young gymnast babe.

Apparently, it was BS. Now the paper that printed the original item has been shut down.

A NEWSPAPER that defied the Kremlin by reporting that President Vladimir Putin was planning to marry an Olympic gold medal-winning rhythmic gymnast half his age was shut down yesterday.

The closure of Moskovski Korrespondent, whose editor Grigori Nekhoroshev was forced to resign, was a sharp reminder of the perils of invoking Kremlin displeasure.

Rumours of a romance between Putin, 55, and Alina Kabaeva, 24, who is also an MP in his party, have been circulating in Moscow for months, but until last week no one had dared to print them.

The paper admitted there was no factual basis for its claim that Putin had already divorced Ludmilla, 50, his wife of 24 years, and would marry Kabaeva in June, shortly after standing down as president and becoming prime minister. It cited information from a party planner who claimed to be bidding to organise the lavish reception.

Both Putin and Kabaeva denied the report, which was followed up by European newspapers but ignored by Russia’s media, which do not delve into the private lives of politicians.

“I thought we should run the story to help break the taboo,” said Nekhoroshev. He paid a swift penalty for his daring: the paper, owned by Alexander Lebedev, the billionaire tycoon, ceased publication immediately.

Its parent firm blamed “costs” and “conceptual disagreements with the newsroom” but insisted in a statement that “this has nothing to do with politics and is solely a business decision”.

Few in Russia will believe that. The closure came a few hours after Putin had said during a visit to Sardinia that there was not a word of truth in the story and derided the “snotty noses and erotic fantasies” of the journalists concerned. So protective is the president of his private life that the Russian public has not seen his daughters since he came to power eight years ago.

Obviously if the story is bogus, the paper should retract it. Seems a bit harsh to cease operations entirely.

Though it got me to thinking: What if newspapers here were forced out of business for publishing falsehoods?

The New York Times would have gone out of business a long time ago.

Would anyone miss them?

Putie Dumps His Wife, Plans to Marry Young Model

Maybe he's envious of Nicolas Sarkozy. Granted, Sarkozy actually married someone a bit closer in age. Vlad is going really young here with a 24-year-old gymnast.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin, a man less known for his personal life, is planning to marry a former Olympic gymnast and model who is half his age, a local newspaper reported.

“What about his wife?” Some may ask.

Well, the 56-year-old president has taken care of that. Putin divorced Lyudmila, his 50-year-old ex-wife, two months ago after 25 years of marriage.

The fact has recently come to light, but it was obvious that their relationship wasn’t on the right track. Putin came at the UN Summit in Bucharest without his wife and, more surprisingly, he was alone when he received President Bush and his wife Barbara at Soci.

The girl Putin plans to marry is the 24-year-old gold medal-winning rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva according to Britain's Evening Standard newspaper.

Kabaeva represented Russia at the Sydney and Athens Olympics. She has been a one-time nude model, is currently a politician and has entered the Russian Parliament last December. She once posed wrapped in only fur and also appeared in an action film.

Of course, Putie denies the story.

"In what you said, there is not one word of truth,'' Putin said when asked about the reports by a journalist at a news briefing with Italy's Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi.

Which means, of course, by the time you read this, they'll have been officially married.

She seems to be a very flexible young lady.