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A newspaper that defied the Kremlin by reporting that President Vladimir Putin was planning to marry an Olympic gold medal-winning rhythmic gymnast half his age was shut down Saturday.
The closure of Moskovski Korrespondent, whose editor Grigori Nekhoroshev was forced to resign, was a sharp reminder of the perils of invoking Kremlin displeasure.
Rumors of a romance between Putin, 55, and Alina Kabaeva, 24, who is also an MP in his party, have been circulating in Moscow for months, but until last week no one had dared to print them.
The paper admitted there was no factual basis for its claim that Putin had already divorced Ludmilla, 50, his wife of 24 years, and would marry Kabaeva in June, shortly after stepping down as president and becoming prime minister. It cited information from a party planner who claimed to be bidding to organize the lavish reception.
Don’t mess with the Kremlin.
Thanks MJ.
Good ole’ Tsar Putin. Ya never know what he’ll do next! lol
An MP at 24! Wow. She is ambitious.
I’d think Putin would be proud of that whether it was true or false? Whats “behind” this story—probably just a control thing.
An attractive, female, 24 year old, Olympic rythmic gymnast?
Well, at least it’s not like the old days, where Mr. Nekhoroshev would have got a one way ticket on the Gulag Express.
Mr. Nekhoroshev will be walking the KGB plank soon I imagine. Splash, bye Mr. Nekhoroshev.
One thing with Russians don’t piss em off unless your blunderbuss is bigger than theirs.
#6, yes that is apparently right. Also may I add that one shouldn’t publish a story about Putin unless you have all the facts in triplicate from independent reliable sources.
None of which this paper had. “The paper admitted there was no factual basis for its claim that Putin had already divorced Ludmilla, 50, his wife of 24 years, and would marry Kabaeva in June”…”It cited information from a party planner”…”Both Putin and Kabaeva denied the report”…“I thought we should run the story to help break the taboo,” said Nekhoroshev. He paid a swift penalty for his daring: the paper, owned by Alexander Lebedev, the billionaire tycoon, ceased publication immediately.”…”Lebedev, who had ordered his editors to stand up the story with some facts or apologize – they apologized”.
This Nekhoroshev published a damaging story about the President based on the statements of a party planner?!!
If this is the standard of their reporting, they should be shut down. At the very least they could have warned the paper’s owner that they were going to publish sensational tripe.
Is he a vampire? Look at his stare; it’s not at her face, nor her boobs…HE’S STARING AT HER NECK!
BTW: Didn’t she learn anything from the Tricia Walsh-Smith video on Youtube? I’m sure Vladamir’s pre-nupt is a little more daunting than Philip Smith’s.
In a couple of years, she’ll be a bloodless, mail order bride heading to Bosnia.
You’ve got to give the guy credit if nothing else
Remember Yeltsin on his holiday / vacation on his snowmobile
At least these guys know how to have fun
But then again Clinton did as well
Now this is irony…this kind of news from FOX! Hahaha…
Putin is an Ahole. Russia is going to be trouble down the road.
I disagree #11. Putin is their only hope..otherwise they will end up like Yugoslavia.
This girl can put her vagina on top of her head.
This kind of flexibility is NEVER overrated.
I like ’em bendy.
Ho-hum. Big deal. Bush shuts down a dozen news papers a day and sends the whole staff to Gitmo.
Doesn’t he?
Yes Mr. Nekhoroshev, would you like some polonium in your borsht?