The latest round of US sanctions against Russia has brought a new look at the family life of Russian President Vladimir Putin, revealing two new targets: Catherine and Maria, his eldest daughters.
Despite Putin’s dominance in Russian politics, he rarely talks about his family and little is known about his personal life or children.
Catherine and Maria have never publicly confirmed that the Russian leader is their father. Putin’s marriage to their mother, Lyudmila, who was once part of the cabin crew of the national carrier Aeroflot, ended in divorce in 2013.
The United States says Katerina Tikhonova, 35, is a technology director whose work supports the Russian government and its defense industry. Her 36-year-old sister, Maria Vorontsova, runs government-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin for genetic research and are personally controlled by Putin, it added.
A senior US official said Washington believed “Putin’s assets are hidden from family members.”
According to the Kremlin’s website, Maria was born in 1985 and Katerina a year later after the family moved to Dresden, then to East Germany, where Putin is a KGB spy.
Fiona Hill and Clifford Gaddy, co-authors of “Who’s Mr. Putin?”, Noted in their 2015 biography of the Russian president that “personal information is remarkably scarce for such a prominent public figure.” His wife, daughters and other family members, for example, are clearly absent from the public domain. “
Katerina Tikhonova, Putin’s daughter and deputy director of the Institute for Mathematical Research on Complex Systems at Moscow State University, attended a session of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg last year [File: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]
Katerina is best known – at least on YouTube – as an acrobatic rock’n’roll dancer, where videos show her performing grueling routines, including turns and somersaults at major international competitions.
But a 2015 Reuters investigation revealed her in a very different light, highlighting her connections and influence among Moscow’s elite.
The report says Katerina, now deputy director of the Moscow State University’s Institute for Mathematical Research on Complex Systems, was described at the time as the “wife” of Kirill Shamalov, the son of Nikolai Shamalov, a longtime friend of Putin’s. who is also a shareholder in Bank of Russia. The report estimates the couple’s corporate assets at about $ 2 billion, in addition to other assets and assets. Cyril is already under sanctions.
Meanwhile, Maria is studying biology at St. Petersburg University and medicine at Moscow State University and is actively involved in genetic research.
Reports in Russian and Western media say that she married a Dutch businessman and lived in the Netherlands for some time.
A Reuters report notes that while Maria specialized in the endocrine system, her husband worked for Gazprombank, a lender with strong ties to the Kremlin elite. Estimates of their assets and possessions were not immediately available, and Leonid Volkov, chief strategist for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said the marriage was over.
Receiving personal
Navalny has long worked to uncover Putin’s wealth, and Volkov said the latest sanctions are welcome.
“This is a very important symbolic move,” he said, given the gravity of the situation in Ukraine. “This is a very important symbolic move, which means that we are persecuting Putin personally, realizing how great his personal guilt is at the beginning of this bloody war.
Maria and Katerina are Putin’s daughters from his marriage to his ex-wife Lyudmila, although none of the women has publicly admitted that he is their father. [File: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo]
The size of Putin’s wealth is a sensitive issue in Russia.
Last year, the Kremlin denied that he owned a lavish palace on the Black Sea, Navalny said in a video released on YouTube.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February that the sanctions included “absurd allegations” about some of Putin’s assets.
“The president has no property other than those he has declared,” Peskov said.
During a press conference in 2019, Putin declined to answer directly a question about his daughters’ growing business influence and ties to the government. He called Vorontsova and Tikhonova “women” and never recognized them as his children.
“I am proud of them. They continue to study and work, “Putin told a news conference a few years earlier.
“They are not involved in any business and they are not involved in politics. “They are not trying to make their way anywhere,” he added.
Navalny’s group says the United States should also sanction former gymnast Alina Kabayeva, who they say is now married to Putin and the mother of his youngest children. [File: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP]
In an interview in 2020, Putin said he did not want to share any information about his family due to “security concerns.”
He did reveal that he had grandchildren, but did not say how many.
“I have grandchildren, I’m happy. They are very good, so sweet. I really enjoy spending time with them. ”
Navalny’s group is also pushing for sanctions against Alina Kabayeva, a former gymnast and lawmaker who they say is Putin’s second wife and mother of his two youngest children. She also chairs the National Media Group, Russia’s largest media group.
Add Comment