I fought the Nazis when I was Irina's age... but I'm so proud of her and I want her to marry Cristiano Ronaldo

Posted Tuesday, May 10, 2011 by The Sun

I fought the Nazis when I was Irina's age... but I'm so proud of her and I want her to marry Cristiano Ronaldo
Things are hotting up ... a sweaty Cristiano Ronaldo with model girlfriend Irina Shayk

Galina remembers the happy faces of those they liberated, though the liberation rapidly turned into a new oppression as the Iron Curtain split the continent.

But this was not how loyal Communists such as Galina saw it and, until recently, the wall of her old flat in Lenin Street held a signed edict by Stalin praising the forces that freed but also subjugated eastern Europe.

After the war, she and her new husband were sent to a highly secretive Soviet military base in Communist East Germany for three years, a period she still declines to speak about.

Her marriage failed soon after the birth of Irina's father Valery - who died seven years ago after an incident in the Urals gold mine where he worked in Yemanzhelinsk.

To Irina, her babushka remains her connection to the Tatar father who did not live to see her remarkable fame and fortune but from whom she inherited her striking looks.

In turn, Galina - who often nursed Irina as a youngster - uses all her old intelligence skills to protect her granddaughter, never having talked about her before to journalists.

She is especially wary of discussing Portuguese star Ronaldo's role in Irina's life - fearing that too much media scrutiny will put a strain on their intercontinental relationship.

Yet on her last visit to see her granny, Irina brought pictures of the Real Madrid star and talked to her about the man in her life.

Galina says: "She told us a lot about him, that he is a dignified person who measures up to Irina. So we have permitted her to marry him when the time is right."

She insists that for now Irina "needs to work" and denies she is upset that she is so far from Russia, seldom venturing home.
But she also reveals - unsurprisingly perhaps - that the family backs Irina's choice of partner 100 per cent.

When Irina does manage to get home she offers her babushka expensive presents - but Galina will not accept money or gifts from her wealthy granddaughter, saying her war veteran's pension of around £100 a week is plenty to live on.

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