Grandfather Putin publicly acknowledges his granddaughter for the first time in a conversation.
Here's a fresh spin on the topic:
Hold onto your hats, folks! Putin's let the cat outta the bag - yep, you heard it right! The big guy himself has finally spilled the beans about having a grandgirl who's fluent in Chinese! According to our fearless leader, this little linguistic whiz has a Chinese nanny from Beijing and chats away fluently in Mandarin with her Duchess.
Now, you might say Putin's never been one to chat much about his kin, but this tidbit got the state-run TASS news agency and journalist Pavel Sarubin all a-flutter, issuing breaking news alerts like wildfire.
Married to a German teacher, Lyudmila, for nearly 30 years (you know, before they sailed their separate ways in 2013), Putin's got two daughters: Ekaterina, born in Dresden in '86, and Maria, a year her senior. Rumor has it there might be some secret loves and other kiddos out there, but that's all just hearsay, folks.
Now, here's where it gets interesting: Putin claims the Chinese-speaking craze is growing in good ol’ Mother Russia. And with China as his BFF (that's "best friend forever" to the under-10 set), no surprise there. Moscow and Beijing are like peas in a pod, with Putin and Chinese Prez Xi Jinping said to share a chummy personal bond. Even after Russia invaded Ukraine in '22, China kept its cool, skipping the sanctions and criticism. They're flaunting that bilateral pal-ship like there's no tomorrow, baby!
Putin's Q&A sesh with Western journos went down at the refurbished conservatory in St. Pete. It's all part of Russia's annual show-and-tell extravaganza, where they try to flaunt their stuff and thumb their nose at the West's attempts at international shunning.
In light of Putin's revelation about his granddaughter's fluency in Chinese, the topic of Russian-Chinese relations has become a hot topic in the realm of general-news and politics. The state-run TASS news agency and journalist Pavel Sarubin have been particularly active in reporting this development, with many speculating that this could signal a deeper integration between Russia and China. Moreover, as Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are said to share a personal bond, this news has only served to reinforce the notion of a growing alliance between the two countries, a trend that political analysts are closely watching.
