couple. during a break they walked into an empty room to stand in front of a camera and review the show. excellent, they said. then the reporter asked a question, many russians have been wondering about for a long time. is it true you no longer live together? translator: this is true. all my activities and work are related with the publicity. with the total publicity. some like it. some don t. reporter: not the clearest answer, so lyudmila putin had to spell it out. translator: our marriage is over because we barely see each other. vladimir is completely engaged with his work. our children have grown up. they re living their own lives. so it just happened we both have our own lives. reporter: this breakup appearance was the first time they ve been seen together since putin s inauguration as president over a year ago. over the 13 years he has dominated political life in this country, sightings of his wife have become increasingly rare.
in 2008, a moscow newspaper reported he was planning to divorce her and marry the russian olympic gymnast. putin angrily denied that and the newspaper shut down soon after. this time, as lyudmila putin confirmed the divorce, she explained, she doesn t like flying or publicity. that had to be a big problem if you re married to a plan famous for traveling across the world s largest country attracting lots of attention with highly publicized, tough guy stunts. despite those differences, their marriage lasted just short of 30 years. they have two adult daughters, lyudmila putin says her soon-to-be ex-husband is a loving father and someone she ll always be close to. you heard lyudmila putin there say she doesn t like air travel. when they first met more than 30 years ago through a friend, she was working as a flight attendant on a domestic airline at that time. president putin s spokesman has
splitting up after nearly 30 years of marriage. cnn s phil black live in moscow with the details. good morning, phil. this was a strange one, even for vladimir putin. yeah, indeed, john. the timing, the method of this announcement, certainly quite surprising, but the substance, the news itself not so much. a lot of people ins this country have been wondering a long time about the true nature of this marriage. largely because in recent years, lyudmila putin had all but completely disappeared from public view. now they have stood side by side, confirming what they describe as a civilized divorce. lyudmila said one of the big issues, one of the big problems in their relationship, was the fact that she doesn t like publicity and you can imagine that would be something of a problem if your husband is vladimir putin. reporter: it started as a pretty ordinary russian version of date night. going to the ballet. but there s never been anything ordinary about russia s first
private life of russian president vladimir putin just went public. here s our phil black in moscow. it started as a pretty ordinary russian version of date night, going to the ballet. but there s never been anything ordinary about russia s first couple. during a break they walked into an empty room to stand in front of a camera and review the show. excellent, they said. then the reporter asked a question many russians have been wondering about for a long time. is it true you no longer live together? translator: this is true. all my activities and work are related with the publicity, with the total publicity. some like it. some don t. not the clearest answer. so lyudmila putin had to spell it out. translator: our marriage is over because vladimir is completely engaged in his work,
both sides working towards talks aimed at reopening a shuttered industrial complex on the boarder. the north also promising to reinstate a line of communication between the two countries. it shut that link down and forced south koreans out of that industrial complex in april. that is when the kim junge un regime stepped up its rhetoric. with syria where there s been intense fighting between syrian forces and rebels. the 45-mile-long fortification has razor wire, touch sensors, ground radar and an israeli official tells the washington post fences like this are a way to keep nearby fighting from crossing over into the jewish state. big news from moscow this morning. vladimir putin is now available, sort of. not for parties or cooperate events. putin is back on the market. again. sort of. in one of the more bizarre divorce announcements the russian president and his rarely seen wife lyudmila revealed on state television they were