Putin likes all women, not only Kabayeva

Russian President Vladimir Putin turned a reporter's question about his marriage into a discourse on female beauty, saying Friday that "I like all Russian women." Putin praised his countrywomen in response to a reporter's question about a recent tabloid report that claimed he intends to marry a former Olympic gymnast less than half his age.

"There is not a single word of truth" to the report, Putin said at a news conference in Sardinia with incoming Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

"Putin divorced", The Moscow tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent, reported.

Kabayeva, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Games, is now a member of the lower house of Russia's parliament from the pro-Kremlin party. The tabloid report, which was published April 12, has been largely ignored in the Russian press. But it's received wide play in many European newspapers.

"I have always had a negative opinion of those who, with their snotty noses and their erotic fantasies, meddle in other people's lives," he said.