The mistress of Russian despot Vladimir Putin is said to have impacted the world leader's approach to foreign policy, a new book has alleged.
Experts on the Kremlin leader's time in office have detailed the life of the 69-year-old and are set to release their findings next week.
Claims from the book allege that Putin's time in office was mired by his mistress, who could have impacted his decision-making when it came to foreign policy.
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Allegations of the influence come as expert Phillip Short described Putin's isolation as very unlike his counterparts and that he did not have "a family to help keep their feet on the ground".
Following an allegedly unhappy marriage with his publicity-shy wife, Putin has since chased and been romantically linked with younger women.
A flurry of rumoured mistresses and former partners have since aired during the despot's time in office, with one link being 22-year-old Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
Their relationship with one another was first reported in 2008, although Putin denied the story and claimed it had "not a worth of truth in it".
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Following Putin's denial of the story, Moskovsky Korrespondent, who had first reported the alleged relationship between the Russian president and Olympic gymnast, was shut down.
Short has since noted that around the same time Putin became linked with Kabaeva in 2005, the leader's behaviour had "subtly changed".
The author claimed that Putin's spirits had been lifted by a much younger woman and that had impacted not just his mood but his troublesome marriage.
Short, 77, has since argued that the boost to Putin's mood was not limited to just his private life.
Writing in his upcoming book, Short wrote: "Was that one of the factors which helped to produce what appeared, from a Russian standpoint, to be a more self-confident and forceful approach in foreign policy, but in the West was seen as more aggressive?
"It is possible but, given Putin's determination to conceal his private life, there is no way of knowing."
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