New Reports about Putin’s Mistresses No Longer Boost His Support, Gallyamov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 25 – New media reports about Vladimir Putin’s mistresses are not having the same effect on his standing with Russians as they would have a decade ago, Abbas Gallyamov says. Then, they would have given him a boost because such stories would have been seen as an indication of his vigor. Now, they are making people angry.

            In a Facebook post, the former Putin speech writer and now frequent commentator says that these reports in fact are doing even more and threaten to become a destabilizing element in Russian politics (facebook.com/abbas.gallyamov/posts/10217964336090563 reposted at rusmonitor.com/abbas-galyamov-eshhe-neskolko-let-nazad-novost-o-nalichii-lyubovniczy-putinu-tolko-plyusov-dobavilo-by.html).

            The situation at present, Gallyamov argues, is “in a zone of unstable balance that now that even such information so insignificant from the point of view of politics … can raise a wave of anger,” something that must shock those in power who remember when such stories would have added to Putin’s stature with many Russians.

            In his brief post, the commentator does not address what is perhaps the most obvious possibility, that the release and even more the dissemination of this information about Putin’s personal life is part of a new political campaign against him and that more such stories are likely to emerge and spread about other aspects of his personal life.