The Kremlin has confirmed the divorce of Russian President Vladimir Putin from his wife of 30 years, Lyudmila.
A spokesperson for Mr. Putin, Dmitry Peskov, has told a Russian news agency that the divorce has been "completed," making the split of Russia's most popular couple final.
The end of the marriage and announcement of their pending divorce was first publicized via live broadcast last June which effectively confirmed the speculations that the pair had separated, recalled MSN.
During the shocking separation announcement, "It was a joint decision," Putin said to the reporter with his then-wife saying that their union was over because "we practically never see each other," and called it a "civilised divorce."
The pair who met at the University of Leningrad, married in 1983 and have two daughters together, both in their 20s. Following the finalization of the pair's divorce, all reference of Putin's marriage to Lyudmila Putina, 56, have been deleted from the President's official website. All that remains is an outline of Putin's career and mentions of Maria and Katerina, his two daughters, reports the Telegraph.
According to the Daily Mail, Putina has held a low profile when it comes to politics, but years leading up to the 2013, there has been speculation in the state of their marriage as Putina has all-but-vanished from the public and has been absent from every public event during Putin's second term as president.
Rumors of an extra-marital relationship between Mr. Putin and Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, 30, have plagued his marriage, but have never been publicly acknowledged. Moskovsky Korrespondent closed in 2008 after running an article in claiming Mr. Putin planned to divorce his wife and marry Kabayeva.
For those who tuned into the recent Olympic games in Russia, Kabayeva was one of the final six torchbearers at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics held just this February.
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