Vladimir Putin (61) and his now ex-wife, Lyudmila Putina (56), are officially
divorced after 30 years of marriage. Lyudmila Putina (born Lyudmila Shkrebneva),
met Putin in the early 1980s while studying at Leningrad State University.
The couple married in 1983 and had two children together: Maria in 1985
and Katerina in 1986.
The couple appeared on Russian television in June 2013 to announce their
intention to separate. Putin explained, “It was a joint decision:
we hardly see each other, each of us has our own life.” However,
Lyudmila Putina’s name was only recently removed from the biography
page of Putin’s website. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed
to Russian media that this was official notice that Putin’s divorce is final.
Speculation has circulated for years of an affair between Putin and 30-year-old
former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva. Rumours continued in January 2014
after Kabayeva was pictured wearing a ring on the fourth finger of her
right hand, which is how Russian women wear their wedding rings. She was
also one of the final six torchbearers at the opening ceremony of the
Sochi Winter Olympics in February 2014.
If Putin’s divorce were governed by Ontario family law, he would be
the subject of an indefinite
spousal support obligation. In Ontario, the duration of spousal support ranges from .5
to 1 year for each year of marriage. However, support will be indefinite
if the marriage is 20 years or longer, in duration or, if the marriage
has lasted 5 years or longer, when the years of marriage and age of the
support recipient (at separation) added together total 65 or more (the
rule of 65). After the Ontario Court of Appeal`s decision in
Fisher v. Fisher ([2008] O.J. No. 38), the 20-year suggestion for indefinite support became
a sharp dividing line. There is a cut-off at 20 years of total cohabitation
for indefinite spousal support; any marriage less than 20 years invites
the possibility of a termination date for support payments.
This shouldn’t be a problem for Putin. Forbes has listed Putin as the
most powerful person in the world. Because Putin’s wealth is allegedly
so vast, he does not appear on any of Forbes’ “richest people”
lists; all of his assets, real property, and money he has stashed away
just cannot be accurately calculated. Putin denies reports that he has
a huge private fortune. However, according to a report by former Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov and Leonid Martynyuk, a member of
the Solidarity movement, Putin has 43 aircrafts, four yachts, and 20 residences
that include palaces and estates. Stanislav Belkovsky, a political scientist
and long-time Putin critic, estimates that Putin’s net worth could
be up to $70 billion. If this estimate is accurate, it means Putin is
secretly the second richest man in the world.
Even without her marriage to the world’s most powerful man, it seems
like Lyudmila Putina still has a very comfortable life ahead of her.