There are demands for the Swiss to expel Vladimir Putin's reported lover from her luxury mountain bolthole.
Foes of Putin in Russia and Ukraine are uniting with a petition calling on the Swiss expel his “lover” Alina Kabaeva, 38, amid claims she is hiding with their secret children in a luxury villa.
“It’s time you reunite Eva Braun with her Führer,” says the incendiary petition.
The critics say: “Despite the current war, Switzerland continues to host an accomplice of Putin’s regime.”
It added that it was time for the neutral country “to take action” and send her home to Putin, 69.
Kabaeva is seldom seen in public - but was caught on video dancing in Moscow in December amid fears Putin was planning to go to war in Ukraine.
Recent reports have claimed she is seeing out the war with her rumoured children in a mountain retreat in Switzerland.
“We, the citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which is currently undergoing immense suffering, are uniting to appeal to the Swiss authorities,” states the petition in German, French and English and posted on change.org, so far signed by almost 55,000.
“The public has just learned that the Russian political and media figure, and former [rhythmic gymnast], Alina Kabaeva, is hiding the consequences of the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation in your country.
“She is the favourite wife of [the] delusional dictator and war criminal who has been treacherously attacking Ukraine over the past weeks.
“As she is supportive of social activities in Russia, she has been attempting to get Russian citizens accustomed to the reality of sanctions after 2014, and personally proclaimed: ‘The worse it gets, the better for us!’”
The signatories question why “given the volume of sanctions placed on Russia” the authorities continue to host her and her family at a time when Putin “is destroying the lives of millions”.
The West has so far not sanctioned Kabaeva - although as well as being Putin’s rumoured secret partner, she is also chairman of the board of directors at National Media Group, a major Kremlin-obedient TV and newspaper behemoth, at a salary of almost £8 million a year.
The petition tells the Swiss: "For the first time in modern history, your country has violated its neutrality, which it did not even do vis-à-vis Nazi Germany in the 20th century, and joined the sanctions against Putin and his surroundings.
“And now you are allowing his favourite mistress and her children to hide within the borders of your state.”
There is as yet no independent evidence that Kabaeva, a former pro-Putin MP, is hiding in Switzerland, where she was rumoured to have previously given birth in the country.
It adds: “We want to remind you that Alina Kabaeva is not only a woman who stained herself with an association with the Russian dictator, but also a criminal against humanity.
“In particular, she was among the initiators of the draft law, which in Russia was called the “law of scoundrels” or “the law of Dima Yakovlev".
“This shameful move deprived thousands of Russian orphans of the possibility of being adopted abroad.
“Consequently, many applications already open at the time for the adoption of seriously ill children were canceled and applicants for qualified medical care simply died.
“Alina Kabaeva, [then] a member of the State Duma [parliament], obediently approved any unconstitutional initiative of President Putin, which later became almost genocidal against the internal population of Russia.”
They call for the Swiss to “investigate very carefully the legal basis on which she is present in your country".
It adds: “Please consider it especially against the backdrop of sanctions imposed on her as a top executive of Russian propaganda media.
“Please decide whether the residence of this individual in your country is warranted.
“We also ask you to check the ‘cleanliness’ of the funds used for the purchase of real estate in Switzerland, of which this person uses.
“We will seek justice in any way possible, and if the fact of corruption of individual political officials of Switzerland is found out, which has allowed Alina Kabaeva to obtain citizenship bypassing all procedures, then we will ensure that this information isn’t kept a secret.
“At times like this, filled with tremendous uncertainty, you must be severe with your actions and in regards to the beneficiaries of Putin's regime!
“It’s time you reunite Eva Braun with her Führer!”
Separate reports suggest Kabaeva is not in Switzerland but at a hi-tech underground bunker in the Altai Mountains of Siberia.
Political scientist Valery Solovey, 61, linked to the Telegram channel, said earlier this month: “In fact, it is not a bunker, but a whole underground city, equipped with the latest science and technology.”
He warned: “I hope this means something to you?
“That the President sends his family to this bunker.”
In her only statement linked to the war, Kabaeva slammed the refusal to allow the Russian team to compete at the Beijing Paralympics.
“There has never been a more shameful page in the history of world sports,” she said.
“They did not worry and did not remove from the competition any country that participated in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria.
“But sports officials were very angry when Russia decided to protect the Donbas and Luhansk from the Nazis."
She complained that Olympic officials “tried so hard to humiliate the Russians, banned our symbols, flag and anthem”.
But still Russians succeeded "due to the talent of our athletes.
“Russia was, is and will be a great sports power - and you can't do anything about it."
Rumours first linked her romantically to Putin as long ago as 2008 when she was a pro-Kremlin MP.
Tabloid Express Gazeta recounted in May when she was still out of sight: “She literally vanished.
“After the giving-birth-to-twins reports nothing was heard about Kabaeva, as if she had disappeared.
“Alina is not giving interviews, nor attending social events, nor participating in any TV programmes.
“One can only guess what is happening in her private life.”
Putin - who in 2013 announced his divorce from wife Lyudmila, a former Aeroflot stewardess - has previously said: "I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.”
He deplored "those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others' lives”.
Kabaeva is on record as saying she had met a man who "I love very much”, gushing: "Sometimes you feel so happy that you even feel scared."
However the Russian media - including her own newspaper and TV group - throws no light on whether they are or were a couple.
In 2001 Kabaeva was temporarily banned from competing in rhythmic gymnastics after failing a doping test.
A year earlier she had won gold at the 2000 summer Olympics.
Once regarded as Russia’s most eligible woman, the only other suitor she has been linked to by the media was a married Georgian policeman.
This relationship petered out in 2005 amid complaints of tabloid intrusion into her life.
She once posed almost nude for Maxim and was described as “full of sex” by a photographer.
There have been many reports of her wearing a wedding ring, but no records of a marriage.
She is reported to have a fleet of Maybach limousines at her disposal, and was seen surrounded by a squad of machine-gun toting security guards on visits to a Moscow cafe.
Many Russians saw her as the reason for the breakup of Putin’s marriage to ex-first lady Lyudmila, 63, mother of his two adult daughters.
The dictator of neighbouring Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko hinted that Putin's divorce decision came about because Kabaeva "put pressure on the president".
