Proekt investigation finds that Putin’s reported partner Alina Kabaeva accompanied him to Kazakhstan in 2017
Vladimir Putin and Alina Kabaeva were both in Kazakhstan in February 2017, when Putin met with the country’s then-president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Proekt reported. The outlet’s journalists examined leaked data from Russia’s Federal Border Service.
According to Proekt investigation, Russian President Vladimir Putin's alleged partner, Alina Kabaeva, traveled to Kazakhstan with him in February 2017. Kabaeva, who is believed to be Putin's longtime partner and mother of his sons, flew to Almaty on February 23 on a private jet, the Embraer Legacy 650 operated by Air Hamburg (later VistaJet).
The registration number of the jet was D-AHOI, which had previously been used by other Russian officials. Kabaeva returned to Russia four days later on February 27. Putin's official visit to Kazakhstan began on the same day, but he had arrived a few days earlier. No official report of Kabaeva's presence on the trip existed. Proekt claims this was the sole documented instance of Kabaeva being abroad during one of Putin's official visits, effectively serving as his "first lady."
The flight cost approximately $26,000. Kabaeva also accompanied Putin on a visit to Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in June 2016, where she flew back to Moscow on June 30. The leaked data from Russia's Federal Border Service, which Proekt analyzed, did not record Kabaeva's departure from Russia, possibly due to an error or because she flew on a government aircraft.
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