Vladimir Putin's nearly 30-year marriage has ended in divorce, the Russian president and his ex-wife told state-run television in a joint interview.

"This was our joint decision. Our marriage is over," Putin told Russia 24, standing next to Lyudmila Putin, in an interview shown Thursday. "We almost don't see each other. We have different lives."

Lyudmila Putin said the two shared a love for their two adult children, but hinted life in the public eye took a toll.

"I don't like to be in public, and it's hard to take (airplane) flights," she said. "We love our children a lot, we are proud of them and see them all the time."

Putin, wife announce marriage is over

She said that she was grateful for her ex-husband's support and said the divorce was civilized.

The announcement comes after longtime speculation about their relationship, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva in July 1983. Their children, Maria and Yekaterina, were born in 1985 and 1986, respectively.

 The question now is, how will it play to his audience of 143 million Russians?

The end of the marriage of the Russian president and Lyudmila Putina less than two months shy of their 30th anniversary came on state television after a Thursday evening that started out like a model of domestic contentment - a devoted husband taking his wife to the ballet.

But after the performance of "Esmeralda" at the Great Kremlin Palace, the two came into a luxurious room to speak to a reporter.

"Excellent. Great music, excellent production," Putin said and Lyudmila echoed his praise.

After about a minute, the reporter asked about rumors that the two didn't live together. Putin smiled slightly, like a boy caught misbehaving, and turned his head toward Lyudmila. "This is so," he said.

It wasn't immediately clear if that meant just separate domiciles. After a few more comments, the reporter gently prodded: "I am afraid to say this word 'divorce'."

"Yes, this is a civilized divorced," Lyudmila said.

The peculiar format for the announcement appeared aimed at underlining that this wasn't just a powerful man dumping his faithful helpmate. That's a potentially important strategic move for Putin, who has based his public image on rectitude and support of traditional values, according to yahoo.com.

The Interfax news agency cited presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying the divorce has not been formalized and that the televised comments were only an announcement of the decision to divorce, reported CNN.

Divorce is common in Russia, and nearly 700,000 pairs dissolved their marriages in 2009, according to UNICEF. Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies Russia's political elite, said the divorce probably won't hurt Putin in the public eye - as long as he doesn't take a trophy wife.

"If a young wife appears, then the reactions in society may be very different," she said in an article published by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on its website.