“He wanted a divorce from the early days.” Putin's ex-wife, disturbing testimonies about the years spent with the Russian leader
Almost a decade after the divorce between Vladimir Putin and his ex-wife, Ludmila Shkrebneva, testimonies and controversial accounts continue to appear about the relationship of the two. Several people from the Kremlin leader's entourage have claimed over time that the marriage would have been difficult from the beginning.
Vladimir Putin and his ex-wife, Ludmila Putina/PHOTO: Archive
Vladimir Putin and Ludmila Shkrebneva married in July 1983, and in 2013 they officially announced their divorce, which they said was mutually agreed upon. According to statements made later by those close to the family, the problems in the relationship appeared very shortly after the wedding. It is said that the day after the wedding, Liudmila Putina wanted to leave her husband.
Former Soviet intelligence officer and writer Sergei Zhirnov, based in France, reported that the two had met at a show by the famous satirist Arkady Raikin. According to him, Ludmila, then a flight attendant at Aeroflot, would have fallen in love with Putin and courted him for several years before he agreed to the marriage.
Another version was presented by former Russian banker Sergei Pugachev, who stated that Ludmila would have expressed her dissatisfaction with her husband's behavior shortly after the wedding. Pugachev cited alleged eccentricities and unusual behaviors of the current Russian leader, but did not provide public evidence to support his claims.
For example, in 2006, while walking around the Kremlin, Putin approached an unknown boy, lifted his shirt and kissed him on the stomach. Also, at a meeting with schoolchildren, Putin joked about a “rubber butt”, recalls Pugachev.
“Complicated relationship,” according to people close to them
Journalist and political commentator Evgheni Kiselev claimed for his part that the relationship between Vladimir and Ludmila Putin was a tense one. According to him, even before Putin became president of Russia, political circles were discussing the impact that family problems could have on his public image.
Kiselev also related an anecdote attributed to the ex-wife of the Kremlin leader, after the publication of the autobiographical volume “In the first person”, which brings together testimonies of people who knew Putin at different stages of his life. According to the journalist, Ludmila would then have made extremely critical remarks about her ex-husband.
“Well, before, only I knew he was an idiot, and now the whole country will know,” Kiseliov quoted Lyudmila Putin, clarifying that a much stronger word was used instead of “idiot”.
Allegations of family conduct
Polish writer and journalist Krystyna Kurczab-Redlich, author of works dedicated to Putin's biography, stated that the relationship between the two would have been marked by conflicts and behaviors that she describes as abusive.
According to her, during the time when the family lived in Dresden, in the former East Germany, Putin would have been distant from his wife and would have criticized her frequently.
Furthermore, Serghei Pugaciov claimed that Ludmila would have told him episodes of aggressive behavior on the part of her husband, including after drinking alcohol. These claims have not been independently confirmed and have been denied or ignored over time by the Kremlin.
“He can't drink. Do you see how sadistic he is? If he drinks now, he'll start pinching me, squeezing me and showing me some judo techniques. Then I'll be walking around with bruises for a week”Pugacev recounted a conversation with Putin's wife.
Life after divorce
After separating from Vladimir Putin, Ludmila remarried the businessman Artur Oceretnîi. The international press and investigations by independent publications have reported in recent years about her wealth and properties in Europe.
In 2023, information emerged that the ex-wife of the Russian leader had increased her fortune during the war launched by Russia against Ukraine. Also, several journalistic investigations claimed that she would own real estate in countries such as France, Spain and Switzerland.
