Russian President Vladimir Putin has parted from his wife Lyudmila.
The couple announced the news last night on state television after attending a ballet together.
It was a few weeks before their 30th wedding anniversary.
Putin, 60, ex-head of The Soviet Union’s KGB spy service, admitted that rumours he and his wife no longer lived together were “true”.
Lyudmila, 55, said it had been “our common decision”.
She added: “Our marriage is over due to the fact that we barely see each other.”
She insisted it was a “civilised divorce”. But the couple, who have two grown-up daughters, were clearly uncomfortable throughout the interview, with no physical contact.
Lyudmila has rarely been seen in public during her husband’s long tenure at the top of Russian politics, where he parades himself as a muscle-bound hunting, shooting and fishing hardman.
Rumours of a split – and even claims he had secretly divorced and married a younger woman – have dogged Putin for years.
A TV appearance with Lyudmila three years ago was a PR disaster – because Mrs Putin was not wearing a wedding ring