普京绯闻情人登上《时尚》封面

The newly appointed editor of Russian Vogue has courted controversy by putting Vladimir Putin's alleged mistress on her first front cover.

The January 2011 issue features former rhythmic Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, 27, wearing a £21,000 gold Balmain dress with her hands on her hips.

Viktoria Davydova’s decision to give her such prominence in the magazine is one that is likely to irritate the strong man Russian prime minister who has scornfully denied a newspaper report that he has left his wife Ludmila, with whom he has two daughters, for Miss Kabayeva.

While there is no substantive evidence that Mr Putin, 58, is romantically linked to Miss Kabayeva, who also happens to be an MP for Mr Putin's ruling United Russia party, the alleged affair has long been the hottest gossip topic among Russia's elite.

The rumour first came to public prominence in 2008 when a Russian newspaper, owned by billionaire oligarch Alexander Lebedev, quoted a source as insisting the story was true.

Mr Lebedev shut the newspaper down soon afterwards claiming it had not been a commercial success though many suspected the real reason was to appease an angry Mr Putin.

The rumours later escalated when bloggers claimed Miss Kabayeva had subsequently given birth to Mr Putin's love child. Mr Putin has angrily claimed that there is "not one word of truth" in any of the allegations, while Miss Kabayeva's spokesperson has refused to discuss what she derided as "nonsense."

Mr Putin has rarely been seen in public with his wife Ludmila in recent years, citing a heavy workload. He married Ludmila, a former air hostess, in 1983, the same year as Miss Kabayeva was born.

俄总理弗拉基米尔．普京的绯闻情人近日首次登上俄罗斯版《时尚》杂志封面，这让该杂志的新任主编陷入争议。

2011年1月刊的封面人物是前奥运会艺术体操选手、现年27岁的阿琳娜．卡巴耶娃，她双手叉腰，身穿一件价值2.1万英镑的巴尔曼品牌金色裙装。

新任主编维克多莉娅．达维多娃让卡巴耶娃登上杂志封面的决定很可能会激怒俄罗斯“硬汉”总理。普京曾轻蔑地否认了他为了卡巴耶娃而与妻子柳德米拉离婚的报道。普京与妻子育有两个女儿。

尽管没有充足的证据表明58岁的普京与卡巴耶娃有恋情，但这起桃色绯闻一直是俄高层中最热门的八卦话题。卡巴耶娃恰好还是普京领导的“统一俄罗斯党”的一名议员。

绯闻首次曝光是在2008年，当时俄罗斯一家报纸援引其他消息来源称绯闻属实。这家报纸的老板是亿万富豪寡头亚历山大．列别捷夫。

列别捷夫随后以不赚钱为名关停了这家报纸，然而很多人猜测真正的原因是为了安抚暴怒的普京。

随后谣言升级，有人在博客中曝料称卡巴耶娃后来生下了普京的私生子。普京愤怒地称所有这些“都是胡说八道”，而卡巴耶娃的发言人则嘲讽说这样的流言是“废话”，对此不予置评。

普京近年来很少与妻子柳德米拉一同在公开场合亮相，理由是工作繁忙。1983年，普京迎娶了前空姐柳德米拉，而同年卡巴耶娃刚刚出生。

Vocabulary:

oligarch: one of the rulers in an oligarchy（寡头政治家，寡头统治集团成员）

love child: a child born out of wedlock（私生子）