Amid election discrepancies and in the wake of rumored affairs and spousal abuse, the wife of despotic Russian leader Vladimir Putin has gone missing. Where's Lyudmila?

Flash, gossip column of The Daily, reports that Putin's long-suffering wife "hasn't been seen in public" since a June trip to Scotland and England:

"A new rumor is spreading through his cabinet that she is locked away in a psych ward somewhere outside of Moscow," one Russian society source told Flash. "Blogs in Russia have claimed he divorced her years ago, but keeps her around for twice-a-year dog-and-pony shows."

Our Moscow mouthpiece added that Putin's alleged extramarital affairs have led some in his cabinet to compare him to Ivan the Terrible, Russia's brutal 16th-century czar who went through seven consorts, some of whom were either murdered or sent to convents when they displeased him.

Given escalating outrage over Putin's ongoing autocratic rule, I wouldn't be surprised if the rumor mill was in overdrive. I also wouldn't be surprised if a corrupt, power-hungry, virility-obsessed megalomaniac like Putin turned out to be a monstrous control freak in his personal life, too. So, pick your poison, I guess. And I mean that literally. [The Daily, image via Getty]