Russia's Prime Minister and soon-to-be President (again) Vladimir Putin has captured international headlines of late. 
 
 His 54-year-old wife Lyudmila, however, has been conspicuously absent from the public eye and the Russian rumor mill has been quick to offer explanations. 
 
 Could she be pregnant? Pushed aside as Putin courts bombshell spy Anna Chapman? Or rather for rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabayeva? 
 
 The Moscow Post, which The Moscow Times calls "one of the fiefdoms of the massive online empire run directly by the presidential administration" reports that Lyudmila is rumored to be pregnant for a third time and is currently under observation in a Munich hospital. 
 
 The Daily Mail goes as far as to suggest that Putin may have kindled a romance with Russian bombshell Anna Chapman, who was sent back to Russia from the United States as part of a spy swap in 2010. After all, a business associate of Chapman's told Capital New York that the beauty once took a ride in Putin's private submarine. 
 
 Alternatively, The Daily Mail suggests that Putin may be seeing Russian Olympic gold medallist Alina Kabayeve -- with whom the president was allegedly having wedding plans in 2008 -- or Lyudmila may also be "just locked away in a monastery." 
 
 Putin has worked hard to keep his family life out of the press. The to-be president and his wife rarely appear in public together and as the Daily Mail notes, photographs of Putin's daughters Mariya and Yekaterina have never been published. 
 
 Time writes that commenting on divorce-rumors in 2008, Putin said : "I am, of course, aware of the hackneyed phrase and stamp that politicians live in a glass house.. But even in these cases, there must be some limits ... I always thought badly of those who go around with their erotic fantasies sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person's life." 
 
 Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a member of the United Russia party and an expert on Russian elite, told the Guardian that the first lady's absence from public life is not exceptional in Russia. "For western people, maybe it's strange. For Russians, it's totally normal," Kryshtanovskaya said according to the newspaper. ||||| MOSCOW President-elect Vladimir Putin tried to distance himself from the fraud-tainted ruling United Russia party on Tuesday, announcing he was stepping down as its chairman and calling on it to be more competitive. 
 
 Keen to protect his own ratings which are higher than those of a party discredited by accusations of fraud in its parliamentary election victory in December, Putin proposed outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev as its new leader instead. 
 
 "In line with political practice here, the president stands above parties," Putin told the leadership of United Russia, describing the head of state as "a consolidating figure for all political forces in the country". 
 
 "In this regard, after the inauguration in May I deem it necessary to step down as chairman," Putin said. 
 
 The prime minister, who will be sworn in as president on May 7, suggested that a party congress in the second half of May should elect Medvedev as the new chairman. 
 
 Putin, 59, has also said that Medvedev, a longtime ally who led United Russia's campaign in the December election to the Duma, the lower house of parliament, will become prime minister. 
 
 "Since Dmitry Anatolyevich led the party in the State Duma election campaign, and since I will recommend him for the post of prime minister, I believe it is right for him to head the party as well," Putin said. 
 
 "It is a global practice that the government leans on the support of the parliamentary majority." 
 
 The move could be a poisoned chalice for Medvedev, however, whose popularity has dropped since he and Putin announced last September that he would step down as president and make way for Putin's return to the Kremlin. 
 
 Medvedev is less popular than Putin among party members, many of whom blame him for the relatively poor showing in December's election and view him as too liberal. 
 
 FREEDOM FOR EVERYBODY 
 
 In a speech in the Kremlin earlier on Tuesday, one of his last public appearances as president, Medvedev emphasized his adherence to liberal and free market values. 
 
 "I will repeat what I said in May 2008 upon assuming the presidency: I consider the development of civil and economic freedoms is my most important task. More freedom for each person - that was and remains my goal," Medvedev said. 
 
 In the speech, which broadly outlined his agenda as head of government, Medvedev promised to reduce the role of the state in the economy, privatize state-controlled assets and grant more fiscal powers to Russia's regions. 
 
 "State companies should stop acquiring private firms and start selling non-core assets," Medvedev said in a veiled reference to state-controlled behemoths like Gazprom, where he long served as board chairman. 
 
 Such an agenda was not likely to strike a chord with the majority of United Russia members who espouse more leftist and populist views, favoring a greater role of the state in the economy. 
 
 Some cautiously asked for Putin's permission to oppose the new government on policy issues, arguing that the party should be more aggressive in the political atmosphere changed by the biggest opposition protests of Putin's rule. 
 
 "Taking into account the new goals ahead, changes in the political landscape, maybe it is necessary for us to take a tougher line towards the (government)?" parliament member Alexander Khinshtein asked Putin. 
 
 "What do you think, should United Russia have a greater influence on the process of the cabinet's formation, and in the future on rotation of the cabinet ministers?" said Sergei Ilyinykh, party leader in the Siberian city of Tomsk. 
 
 Putin said he hoped for constructive cooperation between United Russia and the new government, whose lineup is expected to be announced in the second half of May. 
 
 "The party should be more viable, more politically competitive, if it is to remain in the race for leadership," Putin said. He and Medvedev are currently engaged in secretive consultations over the new cabinet's lineup. 
 
 United Russia won just under 50 percent of the votes cast in the Duma election on December 4, down from more than 64 percent in the previous poll in 2007. It rejects the fraud allegations, which triggered large protests against the party and Putin. 
 
 Putin won more than 63 percent of votes in the presidential election on March 4, and his opinion poll ratings have long been much higher than the party's. 
 
 (Editing by Timothy Heritage and Myra MacDonald) ||||| Mystery of Russia's missing First Lady: Is Putin's 'affair' with spy Anna Chapman the reason Lyudmila is never seen in public... or is she just locked away in a monastery? 
 
 Was often seen by his side, but only been seen TWICE in last 2 years 
 
 She will soon become Russia's First Lady for an unprecedented third time - but mystery is surrounding exactly who, and where, is Lyudmila Putina. 
 
 As her Kremlin strongman husband Vladimir prepares to once more take up his nation's Presidency, speculation is mounting as to why she is never seen by his side. 
 
 Some say an affair with spy-turned-lingerie model Anna Chapman, which has been strongly denied, is the reason the former Aeroflot-hostess is now rarely seen out in public. 
 
 Rumours: Vladimir Putin was last seen with wife Lyudmila (left) on polling day on March 4. There are now rumours he has turned his attention to spy-turned-model Anna Chapman (right) 
 
 
 
 Days gone by: Putin was often pictured with his wife, as seen here with U.S. President George W Bush and wife Laura in 2006, but Lyudmila has shied away from public view in recent years 
 
 Other tongues say he is still seeing former Olympic gold medallist Alina Kabayeva, claims also heavily rebutted, but who he was alleged to have fathered a child with. 
 
 A third theory is his 54-year-old love is 'locked away' in a £1million state-built guest house in the grounds of the ancient Yelizarov monastery outside Pskov - close to Estonia's border. 
 
 Locals say they have 'proof' she has been there - but all official enquiries to the authorities are met with a steely silence. 
 
 A final hunch is Lyudmila became angry when, in 2008, he stepped down from the top job but then took up the post of Prime Minister. 
 
 Rumours: Alina Kabayeva, who some claim is having an affair with Vladimir Putin, on the cover of Vogue in 2011 (left) and in her gymnast days (right) 
 
 Meeting: Vladimir Putin (left) looking slightly smitten with Alina Kabayeva (right) 
 
 She is rumoured to have moved back to his native St Petersburg while he remained in the capital Moscow. 
 
 
 
 Sociologist Olga Kryshtranovkaya said Putin was merely copying Soviet leaders who hid their wives from view. 
 
 The one exception, she said, was Mikhail Gorbachev whose wife Raisa played a higher-profile role during the 1980s - but that led to criticism from ordinary Russians. 
 
 From Russia with love: Spy Anna Chapman became a media sensation once back in Moscow 
 
 She told The Times : 'For Russia, the status of First Lady is different than in Western countries. It's our mentality about the role of women, unfortunately. 
 
 'Our First Lady has practically always been a housewife who looked after the children and didn't invite herself into politics. 
 
 'The first change was with Gorbachev and it was a very unsuccessful example from the Russian point of view.' Putin, 59, will be inaugurated on May 7, then fly to the U.S. on May 18 for the annual G8 summit of world leaders. 
 
 It is unlikely Lyudmila will be with him, as in the last two years they have been seen together just twice. Previously, they were often pictured together on diplomatic trips abroad - Lyudmila seen posing with Tony Blair's wife Cherie and George W Bush's First Lady Laura. 
 
 
 
 In October 2010 the couple, married in 1983, tried to quell rumours they had divorced by posing for pictures as they jointly answered questions for the national census. 
 
 Then, on March 4, she was spotted leaving a polling station after casting her vote. Little is also known about the couple's two daughters. 
 
 Photographs of Maria, 26, and Yekaterina, 25, have never been published by Russia's media and no family portraits have ever been released. 
 
 Although being undeniably tough on his marriage, speculation that former KGB agent Putin is 'seeing' flame-haired beauty Chapman will certainly do no harm to his image. 
 
 Arrested in the U.S. in 2010 for espionage, the pin-up sexy spy was soon catapulted into the limelight as her pictures were splashed around the world. 
 
 Her intelligence career came to an abrupt end when, along with her nine colleagues, she was arrested in New York City an FBI counter-intelligence swoop. 
 
 But, the daughter of a senior KGB agent, has become a celebrity in Russia since her dramatic Cold War-style prisoner swap deportation back to her home country in July 2010. 
 
 It culminated when last month she appeared on the catwalk at Russian Fashion Week in Moscow clothed in a skin-tight leather ensemble. 
 
 Putin has also been linked to Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, who appeared on Russian Vogue's cover in January 2011. 
 
 The 28-year-old, who won a bronze medal in the rhythmic gymnastics at the Sydney Games in 2000 and bettered it with gold four years later at Athens, is alleged to have mothered his lovechild.
– Virgins everywhere might have Vladimir Putin's back, but as the Russian strongman prepares to assume the presidency in two weeks, wife Lyudmila has been conspicuously absent from his side—and tongues are wagging furiously. Is she locked away in a monastery, wonders the Daily Mail? Or shall we believe the Huffington Post, which picked up a report that she's pregnant with the couple's third child and resting in a Berlin hospital? Still other rumors have Lyudmila Putin shuffled offstage while her husband pursues torrid affairs with either former spy/current lingerie model Anna Chapman or gymnast Alina Kabayeva, with whom he's alleged to have a love child. Lyudmila last appeared publicly to vote in the March 4 elections; she has only appeared with Putin twice in the last two years. But some experts say that's typical for Russian wives, who are rarely seen and never heard: "For western people, maybe it's strange. For Russians, it's totally normal," says one. In other fun Putin news, the Vlad today announced that he's stepping down as chairman of his fraud-tainted United Russia party. "In line with political practice here, the president stands above parties," Putin said, according to Reuters. But not former presidents: Putin suggested that soon-to-be-PM Dmitri Medvedev fill the post.