Collectivity
06-12-2008, 22:48
According to the British "Telegraph" an 82 year old Georgian woman, Vera Putina claims that Vladimir Putin, this year's slapper-down of Georgia, is her son. She now disowns him because of his Georgian antics. She certainly looks like him:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/3568891/Could-this-woman-be-Vladimir-Putins-real-mother.html
Putin's 'lost mum' emerges to claim Georgian son
Kate Weinberg
December 7, 2008
Vera Putina (pictured) claims to be the mother of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Photo: Telegraph
VERA Putina, 82, lives hand-to-mouth in rural Georgia but displays the famous hospitality of the people of the Caucasus. Draping a cloth over the table in her garden, she piles it with fruit, nuts and glasses of homemade vodka.
Her house sits on a dirt track in the village of Metekhi, about 19 kilometres from Gori which was occupied by Russian forces in August during the conflict over the breakaway state of South Ossetia.
A tiny woman, with gnarled worker's hands, only Mrs Putina's strong cheekbones and deep-set, piercing blue eyes are suggestive of who she claims to be.
"I used to be proud of having a son who became president of Russia. Since the war I am ashamed," she said.
Since Russian-born Mrs Putina saw Vladimir Putin on television in 1999, she has been certain he is her estranged son.
Backed by other residents in Metekhi, Mrs Putina claims he lived in the village between the ages of 2½ and 10 before being sent back to his grandparents in Ochyor, in Russia. Records in the archives of Metekhi's closest town, Caspi, indicate a Vladimir Putin was registered at Metekhi school between 1959 and 1960.
Mrs Putina's account is at odds with the Kremlin's version of events. Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin's spokesman, dismissed the claims: "The story is not true. It does not correspond to reality at all."
Mr Putin's quasi-autobiography, First Person, states that he is the sole surviving son of a factory worker and Soviet navy sailor and spent his early years in St Petersburg. Mr Putin claims his parents died of cancer in the 1990s.
But Mrs Putina's claim to the maternity of the Russian leader highlights how little is known about the childhood of one of the world's most powerful men. Details of his upbringing are scant. Mrs Putina's account also brings a personal dimension to the recent war between Russia and Georgia.
In Mrs Putina's account, Mr Putin's father was a Russian mechanic, Platon Privalov, who got her pregnant while married to another woman. She claims her son, nicknamed "Vova", was born on October 7, 1950, exactly two years before Mr Putin's official birth date.
In 1952, Mrs Putina married a Georgian soldier, Giorgi Osepahvili, and moved to Georgia with her son. In December 1960, under pressure from her husband, she delivered "Vova" back to his grandparents in Russia.
Mrs Putina believes the St Petersburg-based "parents" referred to in Mr Putin's biography adopted her son from his grandparents.
Shura Gabinashvili is a former teacher at the school in Metekhi. She claims to have given the child Russian language classes between 1958 and 1960 and says she has received death threats about making the claims public.
She said: "He was the shortest child in the class but he always wanted to win at everything."
Experts in Moscow remain unconvinced that the black and white photograph Mrs Putina has of her son, aged seven, is the Russian Prime Minister.
TELEGRAPH
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/3568891/Could-this-woman-be-Vladimir-Putins-real-mother.html
Putin's 'lost mum' emerges to claim Georgian son
Kate Weinberg
December 7, 2008
Vera Putina (pictured) claims to be the mother of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Photo: Telegraph
VERA Putina, 82, lives hand-to-mouth in rural Georgia but displays the famous hospitality of the people of the Caucasus. Draping a cloth over the table in her garden, she piles it with fruit, nuts and glasses of homemade vodka.
Her house sits on a dirt track in the village of Metekhi, about 19 kilometres from Gori which was occupied by Russian forces in August during the conflict over the breakaway state of South Ossetia.
A tiny woman, with gnarled worker's hands, only Mrs Putina's strong cheekbones and deep-set, piercing blue eyes are suggestive of who she claims to be.
"I used to be proud of having a son who became president of Russia. Since the war I am ashamed," she said.
Since Russian-born Mrs Putina saw Vladimir Putin on television in 1999, she has been certain he is her estranged son.
Backed by other residents in Metekhi, Mrs Putina claims he lived in the village between the ages of 2½ and 10 before being sent back to his grandparents in Ochyor, in Russia. Records in the archives of Metekhi's closest town, Caspi, indicate a Vladimir Putin was registered at Metekhi school between 1959 and 1960.
Mrs Putina's account is at odds with the Kremlin's version of events. Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin's spokesman, dismissed the claims: "The story is not true. It does not correspond to reality at all."
Mr Putin's quasi-autobiography, First Person, states that he is the sole surviving son of a factory worker and Soviet navy sailor and spent his early years in St Petersburg. Mr Putin claims his parents died of cancer in the 1990s.
But Mrs Putina's claim to the maternity of the Russian leader highlights how little is known about the childhood of one of the world's most powerful men. Details of his upbringing are scant. Mrs Putina's account also brings a personal dimension to the recent war between Russia and Georgia.
In Mrs Putina's account, Mr Putin's father was a Russian mechanic, Platon Privalov, who got her pregnant while married to another woman. She claims her son, nicknamed "Vova", was born on October 7, 1950, exactly two years before Mr Putin's official birth date.
In 1952, Mrs Putina married a Georgian soldier, Giorgi Osepahvili, and moved to Georgia with her son. In December 1960, under pressure from her husband, she delivered "Vova" back to his grandparents in Russia.
Mrs Putina believes the St Petersburg-based "parents" referred to in Mr Putin's biography adopted her son from his grandparents.
Shura Gabinashvili is a former teacher at the school in Metekhi. She claims to have given the child Russian language classes between 1958 and 1960 and says she has received death threats about making the claims public.
She said: "He was the shortest child in the class but he always wanted to win at everything."
Experts in Moscow remain unconvinced that the black and white photograph Mrs Putina has of her son, aged seven, is the Russian Prime Minister.
TELEGRAPH