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The secret life of Alina Kabaeva – the star gymnast who became Vladimir Putin's 'Eva Braun'

By Rosa Silverman
Daily Telegraph UK·
8 mins to read
The secret life of Alina Kabaeva – the star gymnast who became Vladimir Putin's 'Eva Braun'
Russian President Vladimir Putin with gymnast Alina Kabaeva at a Kremlin banquet in Moscow on November 4, 2004. Photo / AP

Beautiful, talented and with an Olympic gold medal to her name, Alina Kabaeva was once regarded as the most eligible woman in Moscow. Today, though, she has a rather less desirable epithet, "Russia's Eva Braun".

Kabaeva, 38, is the former gymnast turned politician who is widely believed to be the

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