Western Tutors Hired for Putin’s Alleged Sons to Master European Languages

The alleged children of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva are being educated by tutors from Western countries.

The investigation identifies the two boys as Ivan, born in 2015, and Vladimir, born in 2019, though their parentage remains unconfirmed, according to a report by the System investigative project published on Deutsche Welle on May 28.

Between 2017 and 2026, roughly 20 professionals from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, and Ireland have worked with the children. In January of this year alone, the cost for the salaries of three nannies reached at least 3.5 million rubles ($49,265).

These instructors were officially hired under the guise of "leading translators" for the International Medical Center Sogaz. This arrangement allowed them to obtain visas and work permits in Russia as highly qualified specialists.

The search for these tutors was conducted by Alina Kabaeva’s cousins, Olesya Fedina and Katerina Golovachova, with no direct mention of Putin or Kabaeva in the administrative documents. The children were instead listed as "wards."

According to a report by the System investigative project, the tutors lived alongside the children at Putin’s residence in the Valdai region. As a result, they were required to maintain strict health standards and undergo regular medical examinations.

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The contract terms for the educators included a list of prohibited topics. They were strictly forbidden from "imposing religious, political, or ideological views" on the children and were also instructed not to discuss subjects related to "sexual education and LGBT+."

In 2019, Olesya Fedina emphasized the specific requirements for the children's language acquisition. She stated that young Ivan should be fully immersed in a "linguistic environment" by the age of four, aiming for his English to sound like the "language of a literate European." Similar standards were required for their proficiency in German.

Previously, the Anti-Corruption Foundation discovered that Investment Solutions transferred approximately 6.5 billion rubles ($84.4 million) in surplus funds from the construction of "Putin’s palace" to foundations controlled by Alina Kabaeva.

Financial records indicated that the company, owned by former university classmates of the Russian president, moved millions of dollars into Kabaeva's "Alina Kabaeva Charity Foundation" and her "Heavenly Grace" foundation throughout 2023.

While the foundation officially claimed to support gymnasts, investigators noted that only a small fraction of the received funds was used for that purpose, while significant amounts were directed toward other projects or remained in bank accounts.

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