Lyudmila Putina

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Aleksandrovna and the family name is Putina.
Lyudmila Putina
Людми́ла Пу́тина
First Lady of the Russian Federation
In office
7 May 2012 – 2 April 2014
President Vladimir Putin
Preceded by Svetlana Medvedeva
Succeeded by Vacant
In office
7 May 2000 – 7 May 2008
Preceded by Naina Yeltsina
Succeeded by Svetlana Medvedeva
Second Lady of Russia
In office
7 May 2008 – 7 May 2012
Preceded by Zoya Zoubkova
Succeeded by Svetlana Medvedeva
Preceded by Tamara Stepashina
Succeeded by Irina Kasyanova
Personal details
Born Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Shkrebneva
6 January 1958
Kaliningrad, Soviet Union
Spouse(s) Vladimir Putin (m. 1983–2014)[1]
Children 2
Alma mater Leningrad State University
Religion Russian Orthodox

Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Putina (Russian: Людми́ла Алекса́ндровна Пу́тина, pronounced [lʲʊdˈmʲilə ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvnə ˈputʲɪnə], Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Putina, née Shkrebneva, Шкребнева; born 6 January 1958) is the ex-wife of the Russian President and former Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Early life and education

Putina was born in Kaliningrad, Soviet Union, the daughter of Alexander Avramovich Shkrebnev and Catherine Tikhonovna Shkrebneva.[2] She was educated as a linguist.[3] In 1986, Putina graduated from the branch of Spanish language and philology of the Department of Philology of Leningrad State University.[4]

Career

The Putins' Wedding on 28 July 1983

In her early years she was a flight attendant for the Kaliningrad branch of Aeroflot. From 1990 to 1994 she taught German at the Department of Philology of Leningrad State University. For a few years until 1999 she was a Moscow representative of the JSC Telecominvest.[5][6]

Putina maintained a low profile on the Russian political stage, generally avoiding the limelight except as required by protocol and restricting her public role to supportive statements about her husband.[7]

Proposals for spelling changes

Putina is a curator of a fund aimed to develop the Russian language and sometimes produces statements concerning Russian language and education. Her preference for "maintaining and preserving"[8] the Russian language has led her to make public statements against orthographic reform. The Russian Academy of Science sponsored a commission to study the orthography of the Russian language and propose changes. Their recommendations were made public in 2002 after eight years of work, but were subsequently shot down by Putina, who used Russia's burgeoning economy as one of her reasons why the orthographic reform was not just unnecessary but untimely. However, although one newspaper in Moscow alleged that "Lyudmila Putina de facto cancelled any attempts to reform spelling," the fact remains that public and academic reaction to the reforms were sufficiently negative to have that particular reform attempt abandoned.[9]

Marriage and divorce

Lyudmila Putina with Vladimir Putin after his inauguration on 7 May 2000.

Putina met Vladimir Putin in Leningrad.[3] They married on 28 July 1983;[10] the couple had two daughters, Maria (born 1985) and Yekaterina (Katja) (born 1986 in Dresden, East Germany). The children attended the German School in Moscow (Deutsche Schule Moskau) until Putin's appointment as Prime Minister in 1999. Their photographs are not published by the Russian media, and no family portrait has ever been issued.[11]

On 6 June 2013, Putina and her husband publicly announced termination of their marriage based on a mutual decision.[12] The divorce announcement was made on camera for Russian news media at the Kremlin Palace, ending years of speculation about their relationship. In April 2014, the Kremlin confirmed that their divorce had been finalized.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Allen, Cooper (2 April 2014). "Putin divorce finalized, Kremlin says". USA Today. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  2. ↑ Людмила Александровна Шкребнева (Путина) р. 6 январь 1958 — Родовод
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Baczynska, Gabriela (7 June 2013). "For Lyudmila Putin, solace now that first lady 'shift' is done". Moscow. Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  4. ↑ Rudneva, Elena et al., Germans attacked Putins. Vedomosti, #137(1418), 28 July 2005. (Russian)
  5. ↑ "GermansSee Shady City Link". The St. Petersburg Times. 29 July 2005. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  6. ↑ "Inopressa: "Телекоминвест" загадывает загадки". Inopressa.ru. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  7. ↑ Hasani Gittens (26 July 2014). "Meet the Putins: Inside the Russian Leader's Mysterious Family". NBC News. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Moscow". Times Higher Education. 26 April 2002. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  9. ↑ "Language debate rages in Russia". BBC News. 18 April 2002. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  10. ↑ "Lyudmila Putina Once Called Her Husband a Vampire". The Moscow Times. 7 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  11. ↑ "Mystery of Russia's missing First Lady: Is Putin's 'affair' with spy Anna Chapman the reason Lyudmila is never seen in public... or is she just locked away in a monastery?". Daily Mail (Mail Online). 23 April 2012. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  12. ↑ Hutchinson, Bill (6 June 2013). "Vladimir Putin and wife Lyudmila divorce after 30 years of marriage". Daily News. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  13. ↑ "Russia President Vladimir Putin's divorce goes through". BBC News. 2 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.

External links