An Olympic gold medallist rumoured to have had twins with Vladimir Putin has not been seen since 2018, it is reported.
Alina Kabaeva, said to be the long-term girlfriend of the Kremlin boss, had twins in May 2019, an article published in Russia which subsequently vanished claimed.
The former gymnast, an Olympic gold medallist, is believed to have given birth to boys at a clinic in Moscow last April.
But concern is growing after reports she has "disappeared".
A Moscow source told The Sun : “Putin is an intensely private man - he has been hiding his two adult daughters under fake IDs for years.
“Even now, though he talks about them occasionally, he never names them.
“If Alina gave birth to his children, her hiding away might be one of the strongest hints pointing to this."
The source described Putin as "obsessive" over the security of his family.
The notoriously secretive president has repeatedly denied being in a relationship with glamorous Ms Kabaeva, who is 30 years his junior.
But the pair have been linked since 2008 and she was rumoured to have given birth to a daughter at an exclusive Swiss clinic four years ago.
Authorities in Moscow have stayed silent on reports of the twins.
But speculation was fuelled by news an entire floor of an obstetrics research centre had been closed off and an Italian doctor flown in.
Ms Kabaeva, who sometimes appears in public wearing a ring on her wedding finger, has not been seen since October 2018.
In 2013 Putin announced that his 30-year marriage to wife Lyudmila, with whom he is believed to have two grown-up daughters, was over.
