Eagle-eyed critics have spotted Vladimir Putin's rumoured girlfriend wearing a brooch with the chilling 'Z' symbol to show support for his brutal Ukraine war.
In a rare public appearance at a new gymnastics training centre in Sochi, part of the Sirius complex into which state and oligarch money has been poured, Alina Kabaeva made clear her backing for the invasion in newly released images.
The gold medal-winning former Olympian sported jewellery with the letter Z - originally thought to be a pragmatic emblem for military tactics that was seen painted on tanks, it's now a chilling symbol of the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The Sirius complex contains an elite school where - it is speculated - his joint children with Kabaeva are pupils.
Kabaeva and Putin have never confirmed a relationship despite widespread gossip in Russia that they share a family.
In her speech in Sochi she did not mention the war, nor 70-year-old Putin’s rumoured health problems, nor an alleged recent embarrassing fall down the stairs at his home.
Yet she allowed the brooch pinned to her lapel - likened by critics to a Russian swastika invented for the war in Ukraine - to do the talking.
Meanwhile another woman in Putin’s life, Margarita Simonyan, 42, propagandist and head of the RT state media empire, claimed he would never unleash a nuclear bomb on Kyiv, but urged him to strike London, Washington and Berlin instead - because they have no “holy sites”.
“Since the start of the war we are not fighting Kyiv, but the West,” she claimed, seeking to explain away Russia’s lack of success.
“So why would we need to strike Kyiv with a nuclear bomb?
“We are not fighting with Kyiv.
“We will never bomb Kyiv.
“And the first reason is that our [sacred] holy sites are in Kyiv.
“Vladimir [Putin] and Sergei [Shoigu] would never decide to bomb, for example, the Kyiv Lavra [monastery].
“This is simply impossible.
"But in Washington there is not a single holy site, and nor is there in London, or Berlin.”
Kabaeva, 39. is seen as Putin’s girlfriend since 2008 when he was married to former Russian first lady Lyudmila Putina.
She rarely appears in public and showbiz outlet paparazzi.ru suggested she has undergone new plastic surgery before opening a new gymnastics centre at Sirius as well as an international tournament called Heavenly Grace.
“Everyone noticed her appearance had changed,” said a report.
“Alina clearly needs to do something with her plastic surgeons.
“Attempts to narrow her naturally wide face have so far delivered questionable results.
“With each public appearance her face ‘melts’ more, and becomes more asymmetrical.”
Russian showbiz outlet Starhit described her as looking “slimmed down, with an elegantly shaped face”.
Kabaeva was seen with the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, who sported a smaller ‘Z’ badge.
She thanks Gazprom for pouring cash into the complex.
Reports say that an unofficial tax on major oligarchs was imposed by Putin to build the complex and its elite academy which - unusually - is administered directly from the Kremlin and not by the regional government.
Putin also visited the site last week for a meeting with young scientists.
