Russian state TV airs bizarre ‘Alina Festival’ honoring Putin’s rumored lover Alina Kabaeva
Pro-Kremlin Russian state TV is airing an extravagant gymnastic festival honoring President Vladimir Putin’s rumored mistress Alina Kabaeva — as the brutal invasion of Ukraine rages on.
The bizarre “Alina Festival,” helmed by the Olympic champion, took place last month but premiered on the Russia-1 channel Wednesday to mark the International Day for the Protection of Children.
A TV promo advertising the over-the-top event showed hundreds of young gymnasts doing gravity-defying routines dressed in athletic gear harking back to Soviet times.
The jam-packed patriotic celebration also included an eccentric performance by a gaggle of school children wearing red scarfs reminiscent of young pioneers, standing in front of red banners.
Another equally surreal section of the festival featured a full military choir belting out a stirring rendition of a World War II-era song about a “holy patriotic war” while rhythmic gymnasts in sparkly red dresses gamboled across the stage.
Kabaeva, 39, acted as the MC of the athletic and musical extravaganza, appearing in a $1,700 pink floral wrap dress by Alessandra Rich.
This appears to be the second “Alina Festival” to be held in Moscow in as many months, reported Newsweek.
Kabaeva also made another rare public appearance during the event bearing her name in April, when she praised the Russian armed forces and seemed to draw parallels between the Soviet victory over the Nazis in World War II and the current war in Ukraine.
Putin and his cronies have attempted to justify the Feb. 24 invasion of the neighboring country by claiming that Ukraine is being led by Nazis — even though President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and a descendant of Holocaust victims.
Kabaeva has been romantically linked to Putin since at least 2008. The Kremlin strongman and the star gymnast never confirmed their relationship, although sources familiar with the matter previously told Page Six that the pair share 7-year-old twin daughters and two sons.
In May, Kabaeva was hit by sanctions imposed by the UK and Canada’s governments targeting members of Putin’s inner circle.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s first lady broke her silence on the Russian invasion — now in its 99th day — in an interview that aired Thursday, saying she has no idea when the conflict will end.
Even conceding land to Russia, which would be akin to giving up a “freedom,” would not stop its advances, Olena Zelenska told ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”
“Even if we would consider territories, the aggressor would not stop at that,” she insisted. “He would continue pressing, he would continue launching more and more steps forward, more and more attacks against our territory.”
On Tuesday, President Biden announced that his administration will send anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and precision rocket systems, among other weapons, to Ukraine.
“We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” Biden wrote in a New York Times op-ed.
