Vladimir Putin's 'family values' tsar, 39, 'leaves her Orthodox priest husband for Russian billionaire 11 years older' - while she remains wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges

Vladimir Putin's 'family values' tsar has reportedly left her Orthodox priest husband for a Russian billionaire 11 years her senior.

Maria Lvova-Belova, 39, was appointed as Russia's commissioner for children's rights by Putin just before he invaded Ukraine.

She remains wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges for the unlawful deportation of hundreds of Ukrainian children from areas occupied by Russia.

She married her Orthodox priest husband Pavel Kogelman in 2003. They have five children together and another five which they adopted. Ms Lvova-Belova has adopted 18 children in total, including a Ukrainian boy taken from the ravaged city of Mariupol.

Speculation that she has left her husband was sparked after she was filmed holding hands with Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, 50, at a church procession in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg last week.

Mr Malofeev has close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, founded the ultraconservative TV network Tsargrad and is known for supporting Putin's invasion of Ukraine and repeatedly calling for the for Russia to become a monarchy.

He is currently under US and EU sanctions for financing separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and once referred to Putin as a 'miracle of God'.

Ms Lvova-Belova and media tycoon Mr Malofeev have not commented on the rumours but sources close to the Orthodox Church say they are true.

The separation claims have been widely spread with Telegram channel, Brief, asking its 570,000 subscribers, 'Are we waiting for the wedding of the year?'.

Since Ms Lvova-Belova was appointed as Russia's children's rights commissioner, pro-Kremlin media has routinely churned out stories about her family. While she and her husband have spoken publicly about their relationship, Christian faith, 'traditional values', adoption and their children.

Posts on Ms Lvova-Belova’s Telegram channel imply that she started working closely with Malofeev at the start of 2023. 

They announced the launch of a joint charity project to help Ukrainian children called Happy Childhood in January last year.

The following month, they travelled to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions together.

Later in the year, the media began publishing speculative reports that Ms Lvova-Belova and Mr Malofeev - who reportedly divorced his wife last summer - were romantically involved but there was no real evidence until now.

At least six sources confirmed to Russian journalists that she and Mr Malofeev are in a relationship. A source close to her charity projects claim that her younger children live with their father, and another source close to Mr Malofeev added that she is living separately from the rest of her family.

Ms Lvova-Belova is one of Putin’s loudest supporters of the invasion of Ukraine, putting out videos of herself on social media that paint her as a model of family values and modesty and lecturing Ukrainian children on the sanctity of marriage and religion.