Article: Putin dismisses rumoursITALY.

VLADIMIR PUTIN sternly faced down rumours of a romance with a young rhythmic gymnast yesterday, dismissing the "snotty nosed" intruders that had invaded his privacy with "erotic fantasy".

At a press conference in Sardinia with the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, Putin rejected as lies reports in the Russian tabloid press that he was to marry 24-year-old Alina Kabaeva.

The question was put to the Russian president by Natalia Melikova, of the Russian daily Nezavsinkya Gazeta. The ferocity of his response might not have been what she had expected.

Berlusconi's rejoinder was simply to point at Melikova in an imitation of firing at her. The journalist was ...

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