Putin denies affair with young gymnast

Russian president Vladimir Putin today laughed off questions about an affair with a champion gymnast.

While President Putin denied the rumours at a press conference in Sardinia, Italy, he seemed to delight in projecting a new image to the world as a lady's man.

Taking the stand with Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi at his lavish Sardinian villa in Porto Rotondo, things took the racy turn when a Kremlin journalist asked the Russian president about tabloid reports he had divorced his wife and intended to marry a gymnast less than half his age.

While President Putin's denial was categorical - "Not a single word of truth" - he proceeded to go on to praise the fairer sex in a manner that might have made even Mr Berlusconi proud.

The tabloid Moskovsky Korrespondent reported this week that President Putin, 55, divorced his wife, Lyudmila, two months ago and planned to marry Alina Kabayeva, 24, a former champion rhythmic gymnast. His wife did not accompany him to Sardinia.

Miss Kabayeva, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Games, is now a member of the lower house of Russia's parliament from the pro-Kremlin party.

President Putin said: "In other publications of the same type, the names of other successful, beautiful young women from Russia are mentioned.

"I think it won't be unexpected if I say that I like them all - just as I like all Russian women."

Russian women, he declared, are "the most talented and beautiful" in the world.

"If anyone can compete, it may be only Italian women," he added.

Mr Berlusconi laughed and raised his eyebrows in approval. The reporters cheered and applauded.

The Italian premier-elect, who triumphed in national elections this week, has long been a friend and political ally of President Putin - and he was quick to show his loyalty.

He mockingly pretended to mow down the offending reporter with a machine gun, then jokingly proposed swapping the Russian press with the Italian press.

Mr Berlusconi likes to play the lady's man himself, and last year he was publicly rebuked by his wife for his flirtatious behaviour with other women. He quickly responded with a love letter that was also published in a newspaper.

President Putin, while not often cast as a Casanova, has never shied away from presenting a virile image.

He has been photographed practising judo, at the cockpit of a fighter jet, and skiing down Alpine slopes. Last August, he caused a stir by stripping off his shirt for the cameras while on holiday with Prince Albert II of Monaco in the Siberian mountains.

However, womanising has not been much of a part of his public persona.

President Putin, using the earthy language that has become his trademark, scolded the press for intruding on his private life.

"I have always had a negative opinion of those who, with their snotty noses and their erotic fantasies, meddle in other people's lives," he said.