A correspondent for the Telegraph met a woman in Georgia who claims to be Vladimir Putin's biological mother. Her claims are backed by other residents of her village.
Vera Putina lives in Metekhi village, about 12 miles from Gori. She says that little Vova was born in Russia on 7 October 1950 (while Putin claims he was born 7 October 1952) from a Russian mechanic Platon Privalov, who got Vera pregnant while married to another woman. In 1952 Putina married a Georgian soldier Georgy Osepashvili, and moved to Georgia with her son.
Shura Gabinashvili, who tought Russian language in the local school, remembers little Vova as "the shortest child in the class". She claims to have received death threats after making her memories public. Records in archives of Metekhi's closest town, Caspi, indicate that a Vladmir Putin was registered at Metekhi school, 1959-1960.
Vova's stepfather "was very strong with the children", and pressured Vera to disown little Vova. In December 1960 Putina had to deliver her son to his grandparents in Russia, from whom Vova was adopted by "official" St. Petersburg-based parents.
In 1999 Putina saw Vladimir Putin on TV, and was convinced he was her estranged son.
The published details of Putin's upbringing are strikingly scant. There are holes in the known story of Putin's past. The official line is that Putin's parents were already in their forties when Mr Putin was born, which leaves a gap of over fifteen years since the births of their previous sons, Oleg and Viktor, neither of whom survived childhood. Details of the first ten years of Putin's life are scarce in his autobiography, especially when compared with other world leaders.
Vera Putina says: "I used to be proud of having a son who became President of Russia. Since the war I am ashamed", apparently referring to the Russian aggression against Georgia last August.
The story of Vera Putin a received some coverage in world media, but no thorough investigation was carried out. There were at least two deaths that can be linked to Putina's story. A Russian investigative journalist Artem Borovik died when his private plane crashed. The plane was bound for Kiev. According to some sources, he was going to publish the story about Putina. Italian journalist Antonio Russo was shot dead near Tbilisi after sending footage of Putina to Italy.
In 2000 reporters of Russian NTV channel met Vera Putina, but the
footage was never aired. A Chechen historian Vakha Ibragimov made a
research titled "Secret biography of the Russian president".
Vera Putina has challenged Vladimir Putin to disprove her story by making a DNA test.
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