New pictures and videos have appeared of the boy who, it has been claimed, is Vladimir Putin‘s secret son.
The boy, now ten, called Ivan, is said to have been born to the Russian dictator’s hidden partner, Alina Kabaeva, 42, an Olympic gold medal-winning rhythmic gymnast.
Fresh images in a public gymnastics performance were highlighted by anti-Kremlin Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which in April published the first photos of a child they called ‘the loneliest boy in Russia‘.
Hidden from the public, Ivan is seen to be a member of a gymnastics team and is shown with his alleged mother in open-source pictures dating to 2023. There are also more recent images.
‘Ivan is in a team of boy-gymnasts with a separate number within a group performance, and the cameraman’s attention is focused on his team,’ wrote the caption in the channel.
‘He took part in a large [performance] called ‘Lezginka’ at a festival organised by his mother.’
Footage shows him performing as part of the team at the ALINA 2023 event, and at one point, he is seen blowing a kiss on stage.
Alina – a highly decorated rhythmic gymnast – runs an elite academy in Sochi, Russia’s main Black Sea resort, and is behind training sessions in Valdai, north of Moscow.

It has been claimed that the boy, said to be called Ivan, is the secret son of Vladimir Putin and Alina Kabaeva

The boy, circled, is said to be following in his mother’s – second from left in back row – footsteps by performing on stage as a gymnast

The Kremlin has long denied that the president and Alina Kabaeva are in a secret relationship
Putin has sprawling palaces in both locations.
The caption accompanying the pictures added: ‘From the numerous photos….of the sports team for which Ivan competes, you can see that one of its members is not an ordinary boy.’
‘During performances, training, and other events that take place indoors, there are eight people in the team.
‘Alina Kabaeva is often present in the photo of the eight, she is behind one of the boys.
‘However, when the team flies, stays in regular hotels, goes to have fun at the zoo, the beach, a water park, or just fool around, the number of its members is reduced to seven people.
‘The disappearing boy is Ivan Putin. And Alina Kabaeva, when the seven are photographed, is also missing.’
The channel said the boy does not appear to have been in ‘mass events’ since 2023, although he still features in his team’s images.
Swiss-born Ivan is said to have a younger brother, Vladimir junior, now five, whose pictures have not been publicised.

Putin’s alleged secret son, circled, has been spotted in photographs with his team mates

He is said to have been born in Switzerland and has a brother called Vladimir, who has not been photographed
When the channel first showed the pictures of Putin’s alleged son, it added: ‘He hardly communicates with other children, spending all his time with guards, governesses, [and] teachers.’
With the latest round of pictures, the channel wrote: ‘For some reason, Ivan has a very sad face in almost all the photos.’
He resembles Putin in his Soviet childhood.
The boy appears to be accomplished as a young gymnast. There were contestants from China, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Belarus in the same festival as him.
A message posted by his club said their gymnasts showed an ‘excellent level of training and the ability to work in a team! Hours of training and rehearsals were not in vain! We are proud!!’.
Pictures appear to show the boy at a training session in June 2025 in Valdai, where Putin has his favourite northern palace.
The Russian leader has never confirmed the young family he is said to have with Kabaeva, three decades his junior.
But in an unguarded moment last year, he referred to watching Russian fairy tale films with ‘my little ones’.

Putin is said to have slipped up in an interview when when he said he enjoys watching movies with his ‘little ones’

Although the boy, circled, appears in several pictures with his teammates, it has been alleged that he does not travel with them
State propaganda channel RT translated his words as ‘my junior family members’.
Putin told a marathon televised question and answer session: ‘Our historic fairy tales and epic tales are being revived. I myself sometimes watch these with pleasure with my little ones.’
A flicker of a smile appeared on his face as he mentioned them.
While Putin and the Kremlin have always denied a relationship between him and glamorous Kabaeva, independent Russian journalists have claimed that they have two sons together.
Until now, the children have never been seen and are alleged to live out of sight behind his high-security palace walls.
Putin is also known to have grandchildren from his two eldest daughters – Maria Vorontsova, 40, and Katerina Tikhonova, 38, a scientist, manager and former high-kicking ‘rock’n’roll’ dancer.
It has been claimed that Putin also has another secret daughter, Ekaterina Krivonogikh, 22 – aka Luiza Rozova.
She is said to have been born to his former mistress, a cleaner turned multimillionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 50, who holds shares in a top bank and owns a prominent St Petersburg striptease club.

It has been claimed that Ivan had British tutors, but is now being taught English by South African teachers
Luiza is known to have lived in the West – in Paris – during the war in Ukraine.
Putin is highly secretive about his private life. In one interview, the divorced president said: ‘I do not permit interference. It must be respected.’
He deplored ‘those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives’.
Kabaeva in 2004 posed almost nude – except for furs – for Maxim magazine in Russia and was described as ‘full of sex’ by a photographer.
After being temporarily banned in a doping scandal in 2001, she was photographed naked with strategically-placed lilacs as part of a Russian project ‘Twelve Months’ by Ekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya.
Later, she appeared on a Russian show called One Hundred Questions for Adults when she was questioned about her private life by an audience made up of children.
In one clip, she was asked by a young boy if she had met her ‘ideal man’, to which she replied, giggling: ‘I have.’
She was then asked who the mystery man in her life was, but would only reveal his identity. She said ‘he’s a very good man, a great man’ and added: ‘I love him very much.’

The Russian’s leader’s alleged secret son was photographed doing a headstand while performing on stage
Kabaeva said: ‘Sometimes you feel so happy that you even feel scared.’
Last year, Dossier Centre, an investigative news outlet, claimed that the longstanding speculation that Kabaeva had two sons with Putin was accurate.
It has been said that the boys have secretly had British and New Zealand citizens as governesses, but now, as a result of Putin’s war, the Russian ruler has allegedly recruited South African citizens to teach English to his heirs.
The children are claimed to live under the permanent guard of FSO [Federal Protective Service] officers.
‘The brothers have little contact with their peers and see little of their parents, but they appreciate the rare moments they manage to spend with their father,’ said Dossier Centre.
Reports claim that they do not attend schools and are taught in Putin’s palaces like the royal children of the last Russian tsar.