Media reports suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin has found a new love in a London-educated woman who censors internet criticism of the Russian leader.
Ekaterina “Katya” Mizulina, 39, the daughter of a pro-Putin and anti-Ukrainian Senator Elena Mizulina, 69, is the head of Russia’s Safe Internet League.
However, recently, she has been dubbed Putin’s “morality guardian” as she is seen as a web censor, attempting to suppress criticism of the dictator, particularly on the Ukraine war.
Putin, 71, is the longtime partner of Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 40, and is believed to have two or three children with the former athlete who resides in a network of palaces and official residences owned by the Russian president.
Social media outlets in Russia and Ukraine have seized on claims he has found a new confidante in hardline Mizulina and that the two have “become close”.
Russian human rights campaigner Olga Romanova told Ukraine’s Channel 24: “Katya Mizulina is completely to Putin’s taste. This Barbie ***** [type] has always suited him very well.”
Romanov likened her to an earlier Putin lover, Svetlana Krivonogikh, a club owner and multimillionaire in St Petersburg, mother of Putin’s love child Luiza, 20.
According to Ukrainian media, “Russian insiders claim that Ekaterina Mizulina has the type of appearance that particularly attracts Vladimir Putin.”
Mizulina, a 2004 School of Oriental and African Studies graduate from the University of London with a degree in art history and Indonesian language, has worked as a translator for official Russian delegations visiting China.
Her philosopher father Professor Mikhail Mizulin, 69, is a leading academic in Moscow.
Mizulina advocates for internet censorship, fines, and sanctions against media and social networks.
At a meeting with students this month, she demanded an apology from a student who questioned compulsory military service and threatened him with Putin’s strict laws.