BRIT-bashing Vladimir Putin received a Christmas card written in English from his secret 3-year-old son – with the dictator covertly hiring nannies from the UK, per a new exposé.
The ageing tyrant spews out endless bile against the West and has become especially vitriolic towards Britain since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
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Vladimir Putin’s son Ivan’s British-style Christmas card to his parents in 2018 Credit: East2West
The dictator shares two children with Olympic gold-winning gymnast Alina Kabaeva Credit: East2West
But Putin splashes out hundreds of thousands of pounds a year for his children to be tutored by staff from Nato states, as revealed by investigative outlet Systema.
His two young sons Ivan, 11, and Vladimir, 7, are taught behind the walls of Putin’s plush palaces and do not attend normal school.
Their mother is Olympic gold medal-winning rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 43, who is three decades younger than Putin, 73.
A shocking Christmas card by Ivan, then three, shows a Brit-style Father Christmas with a white cotton wool beard – a figure routinely disparaged by Putin’s propagandists in favour of the Russian Grandfather Frost.
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Ivan, first from the right, is now 11 and signed the Christmas card Credit: East2West
Their other child Vladimir Spiridonov, is currently 7 Credit: East2West
The card – written by a governess – read: “Dear Mummy and Daddy, Lots of Love from….[signed by the boy] Vanya [Ivan].”
It was also revealed that Ivan read books about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – a character mocked by Putin’s thought police.
And despite the despot’s extreme, anti-Western rhetoric, his sons were raised using the English early-years education framework.
Systema learned of the hypocrisy after gaining a trove of documents related to the hiring of foreign tutors.
A picture from one of the governess’ report’s shows Ivan playing the drums Credit: East2West
A report filed by Ivan Putin’s governess revealed his fascination with zoo animals, circus games and drawing lions Credit: East2West
The files reveal that at least 20 foreign governesses have been employed by the Putin family over the past eight years.
The majority of them are citizens of Nato countries, with whom Russia is supposed to be at war – according to the Kremlin top dog himself.
The family “has spent, and continues to spend, hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on their support”.
Through the training, the boys are expected to master at least two foreign languages fluently.
Yet ordinary Russian schools are slashing Western language teaching.
“By the age of four Ivan was supposed to be constantly immersed in a ‘language bath’,” said the report.
“His spoken English was expected to be coherent, like the speech of an ‘educated European’. Similar requirements were set for his German studies.”
One governess, Jane M, 58, held British and Irish passports and was hired after the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
She tutored Vladimir, known as Vova, when he was three.
The UK has been the subject of some of Putin’s most hateful rhetoric, and according to him, has almost become Russia‘s main adversary.
But it would appear that hiring British staff is not a problem.
Another Briton, Harry A, requested two months unpaid leave in 2023 because of “burnout from life in quarantine” under the strict rules imposed on staff.
Foreign tutors were ordered to “never impose your religious, political or ideological views” on Putin’s sons.
They were warned: “Do not discuss topics of sexual relationships or sex education without prior agreement from the Employer. Under no circumstances discuss topics related to LGBT.”
Staff working with Ivan were also told that in “role-playing games he may only be given male names and male roles”.
One governess complained: “I was simply a person receiving commands and orders.”
An Austrian nanny said negotiations over the job were conducted in extreme secrecy.
Recruitment was handled by Kabaeva’s cousins Olesya Fedina and Ekaterina Golovacheva.
The children were sometimes given the surname Fedin or referred to as Spiridonov to conceal their true identities.
Strict medical checks for Western staff were carried out at clinics linked to Putin’s eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova, 41.
The leaked records reveal an obsessive fear of illness and infection.
Employees could be sacked immediately if they were ill for more than three weeks.
One recruit, Emma, went from luxury hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg to tiny Uglovka near Putin’s heavily fortified Valdai forest retreat, protected by at least 26 Pantsir air-defence systems.
Pay for the foreign staff, which could reach £78,000 a year, appears not to have been declared to Russian tax authorities.
The most recent known hires came from Germany, Bosnia and South Africa.
