The reason for Vladimir Putin’s continued hatred of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has to do with a TV sketch he made as a comedian in 2014 in which he mocked the Russian president and his mistress, a new book claims.
The sketch in question shows Zelensky ruthlessly playing the role of Russian Olympic gymnast – and alleged lover of Putin – Alina Kabaeva.
In the parody, Putin comes home late, where he is verbally abused and threatened with a sex ban by Kabaeva, who is thirty years his junior.
It seems innocuous by Western standards, but according to author Mikhail Zygar, a chronicler of Putin’s Russia, the sketch sealed the autocrat’s antipathy toward Zelensky, against whom he would later wage war.
“No comedian in Russia would ever dare to compose such a sketch, and especially no TV channel would show it,” Zygar wrote in his new book War and Punishment: How Russia Destroys Ukraine.
Ukrainian president and former comedian Volodymyr Zelensky plays Putin’s lover Alina Kabaeva in 2014
The parody sees Putin returning home late to be berated and threatened with a sex ban by Kabaeva – who is 30 years his junior – played by Zelensky
The sketch seems innocuous by Western standards, but according to author Mikhail Zygar, a chronicler of Putin’s Russia, the sketch sealed Zelensky’s dislike of the autocrat.
Alina Kabaeva and Vladimir Putin at an event in the Kremlin in the 2000s
Kabaeva says she has met an unnamed man who “I love very much,” and says, “Sometimes you feel so happy that you are even afraid.” This was after she posed almost naked for Russian magazine Maxim and was described by a photographer as ‘full of sex’
In the sketch, Kabaeva, played by Zelensky, demands to know where Putin has been after arriving home late.
He sputters that he discussed the deployment of Russian troops in the recently annexed Crimea with his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, but Kabaeva insists that Putin’s state television denies that there are Russian troops in Crimea.
‘Do I look like a fool? I’m watching Russian news! There are no troops in Crimea!’ Kabaeva screams.
Putin then admits that state TV may not be telling the truth before the sketch shows the real reason for its anger: deposed and disgraced Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whom Putin saved after being deposed in a coup, while in their lived in a closet.
‘This is it. No more sex, no more relationships,” Kabaeva storms.
Putin says: ‘Let me sort this out, I will arrange everything.’
Kabaeva answers: ‘And how do we do that?’
Putin tells her, “Look at me.”
As a former spy, he knocks a code on the door of Yanukovych’s closet.
The deposed president says, ‘I got you! I’m not coming out for another minute and a half,” which insinuated that the pair were about to have sex.
Kabaeva asks why Yanukovych is singing, to which Putin replies, “I think he doesn’t hear us.”‘
Kabaeva continues: ‘This is a nightmare. This is it, it’s me or him. Take your pick… him or me.”
The sketch ends with Putin making Kabaeva president of Ukraine, as Yanukovych says, “Oh thank God – I’ll take charge of the (Putin) household…”
Putin has never admitted to having a relationship with Kabaeva, who was 30 years old when the comedy show was made – or with the three children they allegedly share.
But he did say: ‘I have a private life in which I do not allow interference. It must be respected.’
He deplored “those who creep into the lives of others with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies.”
Kabaeva says she has met an unnamed man who “I love very much,” and says, “Sometimes you feel so happy that you are even afraid.”
This was after she posed almost nude for Russian magazine Maxim and was described by a photographer as ‘full of sex’.
Alina Kabaeva and Vladimir Putin at an event in the Kremlin
In another sketch broadcast from 2014, Zelensky is seen broadcasting from a square next to the Kremlin, where he mocked the tight control that already existed in Putin’s Russia.
A fresh-faced Zelensky is seen in Moscow shortly after the invasion of Crimea
Mikhail Zygar, Russian journalist and author of the recently published book ‘War and Punishment. How Russia Destroyed Ukraine
Zygar explained how the sketch could have made Zelensky a target for Putin.
‘Jokes about Putin have been unacceptable here for a long time, especially about his personal life. You can’t talk about (Kabaeva) at all. This is a general rule for all media.
“Only once, in 2008, did the Moscow Correspondent write that Putin was getting divorced to marry Kabaeva, and the newspaper was immediately closed down.
“Since then, no Russian media outlet has dared to broach the subject of the president’s family life.”
Zygar says that Zelensky’s fleeting role as Kabaeva would be the “turning point” in Zelensky’s life, although he doesn’t suspect it yet.
“This is precisely the moment when Putin first hears about the comedian’s existence,” Zygar wrote, citing a source who worked in the presidential administration.
Shortly afterwards, a criminal case was opened in Russia against Zelensky.
Eight years later, in 2022, Putin invaded Ukraine and attempted to oust Zelensky from power.
In another sketch broadcast from 2014, Zelensky is seen broadcasting from a square next to the Kremlin, where he mocked the tight control that already existed in Putin’s Russia.
“Good evening dear Ukraine, good evening beloved, liberate Kiev,” said a youthful Zelensky.
‘I am in the center of Moscow, on Manezhnaya Square… It is indeed very democratic here. Anyone can freely shout “Glory to Ukraine” without any consequences.
‘Or at least not suffer consequences that cannot be corrected by modern medicine.’
Zygar is the author of the bestseller All the Men of the Kremlin – a history of Putin’s Russia – and a writer and filmmaker.
He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Russian independent news TV channel Dozhd.