Vladimir Putin is said to be preparing to marry a 24-year-old star Russian gymnast, the Telegraph reports. Rumors of the 56-year-old president’s courtship to Alina Kabaeva have been swirling around Moscow for months, but were recently printed by a Russian newspaper that found a St. Petersburg event planner who said he was organizing a wedding for the couple.
Though not officially separated from his wife, Ludmilla, Putin is said to have dumped her two months ago. The wedding is set for mid-June, about a month after Putin will formally cede the presidency to Dmitry Medvedev. Kabaeva has earned a prominent place in the gymnastics world and represented Russia at the Olympics in Sydney and Athens. (More Vladimir Putin stories.)