Putin is divorcing his wife. Really ? Hardly a surprise. Lately Vladimir only brought out Ludmila for an annual visit to church and for his inaugurations. For years, there have been rumours that Putin was involved with a former gymnast turned Duma member. Alina Kabayeva is a 30-year-old Uzbek-born woman who is never seen in public with Putin, a man twice her age. They are said to have two children together - but who knows? When the "Moskovsky Korrespondent" newspaper reported the secret relationship in 2008, it was abruptly shut down.

The divorce announcement on June 6 was the grand finale of the 15th season of the "Tsar Putin" TV soap opera. After all, Putin is the first sitting Russian head of state to divorce his wife since Peter the Great in 1698. When Putin came to power in 1999, the media was still free and there were still reports about his private life. But that changed quickly. By 2004 he had control, and his spin doctors have been busy ever since to create an image of Putin which has very little to do with the reality. The real Putin is the man we do not see.

Putin's two daughters with Ludmila, Masha, 28, and Katya, 26, have not been photographed since they became adults. I was at a dinner once when one of them sat at the next table with her Dutch husband. Nobody was allowed to say openly who she was. It was a ghostly and ridiculous spectacle. Putin also became a grandfather a year ago - but this is just speculation based on rumours. Officially, Russian media is busy showing him flying with cranes. He prefers this role to pushing a pram.

But his family secrecy is only one side of the invisible Putin. More important is the discrepancy between his public image as president and what he really does. Officially he is portrayed as an efficient, commanding, hard-working head of state who shows a human and generous side from time to time - he likes giving a watch from his own wrist as a gift to a simple worker. But the reality is different. Although Russia is rich in resources, it is in trouble. A lack of reforms and rampant corruption cost the country dearly. The economy grew only 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013 - very low for a BRIC country. A good case study are the preparations for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. Of 35 billion euros spent so far, 23 billion went into deep pockets, according to a report by opposition politician Boris Nemtsov ( see: http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article116814981/Die-Olympischen-Spiele-der-Korruption-von-Sotschi.html)

Who could believe that Putin himself is not corrupt? But who can prove it? Political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky claimed in 2008 that Putin was secretly worth 30 billion euros, mostly through secret shareholdings in oil companies which have blossomed during his reign. Belkovsky also claimed later that the financial crisis had reduced the Kremlin billionaire's assets to just 12 billion. Officially Putin only earns 90,000 euros a year. The palaces he has built and enlarged during his years as president are worth millions, but are officially of course not his property. Except that he might now consider his job as leader of Russia as a commitment for life.

After all, he could stay in the Kremlin till 2024 - a second six-year term as president would be legal as he made an interim appearance as prime minister from 2008-2012 between his two first terms as president. But this is increasingly unlikely, as Putin is becoming his own biggest problem. Too much power for too long is too much even for a disciplined person like Putin. His understanding of his "managed democracy" - i.e. his autocracy - becomes narrower by the month. This July, opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny faces trial and prison. Putin is also cracking down on the last NGOs who could still operate in Russia. "By the winter there will not be any NGOs left", says Masha Gessen, a proud Russian journalist and author of the critical Putin biography "The Man Without A Face". She has just decided to leave Russia to secure her children's future abroad. (http://lumiere.net.nz/index.php/masha-gessen-decides-to-leave-russia/)

This is one of Russia's biggest problems: people are leaving. The best brains prefer to work somewhere else, where the results of their research are not controlled. The worst example of this was the spectacular departure of Sergei Guriev. He headed the "New Economic School", which was a place for free economic thinking with government backing. Even this doesn't function anymore in the latest stage of Putin's rule. And as no one can count on keeping their freedom to think and move anymore, people are also taking their money out of Russia. Twenty billion euros have been moved abroad in the first four months of 2013 alone - and this according to official numbers from the Central Bank of Russia. The country is stagnating.

Maybe Putin decided therefore to change his image as a lonely leader who is never to be seen with a woman. He certainly does not want to be compared with Josef Stalin, whose wife Nadezhda Aliluyeva committed suicide in 1932. Russia expert Nina Khrushcheva thinks Putin might want to present Alina Kabayeva as his second wife soon to show himself as a modern leader like Barack Obama, who shares his post with a strong wife at his side: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-reasons-behind-vladimir-putin-s-public-divorce-by-nina-l--khrushcheva

But would Russia accept a wife for their leader who is half as old as he is, and the same age as his daughters? We will see. The wife question is only a question of minor importance. Russians certainly deserve to see more of the real Putin. It might bring people back to the streets. If things stay as they are, we might all have to stay tuned to wait for the finale of the 26th season of "Tsar Putin". It will only be screened in winter 2024.