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.