Putin s daughters were just sanctioned. Here s what we know about them
Mrs Vorontsova is now an academic, specialising in the endocrine system. She co-wrote a book on stunted growth in children, and is listed as a researcher at the Endocrinology Research Centre in Moscow.
Who are Putin’s daughters? What we know about his family
In 2015, during one of his marathon news conferences, he dodged questions about his daughter’s identities.
“My daughters live in Russia and studied only in Russia, I am proud of them,” he said. “They speak three foreign languages fluently. I never discuss my family with anyone.”
“Every person has a right for their fate, they live their own life and do it with dignity,” he added.
He might not want to name them, but others have. The latest round of US sanctions has targeted Maria Vorontsova, 36, and Katerina Tikhonova, 35.
“We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members, and that’s why we’re targeting them,” one US official said.
While little has been officially confirmed about President Putin’s family life, documents, media reports and the occasional public pronouncement are enough to provide a portrait of the pair.
The two are the daughters of President Putin and his ex-wife Lyudmila. The pair married in 1983 when she was a flight attendant and he a KGB officer. Their marriage lasted 30 years, spanning Mr Putin’s rapid rise to the top of Russia’s political system.
In 2013, they split. Mr Putin said “it was a joint decision: we hardly see each other, each of us has our own life”. She said he was “completely drowned in work”.
Their eldest, Maria Vorontsova, was born in 1985. She studied biology at St Petersburg University and medicine at Moscow State University.
Mrs Vorontsova is now an academic, specialising in the endocrine system. She co-wrote a book on stunted growth in children, and is listed as a researcher at the Endocrinology Research Centre in Moscow.
She’s also a businesswoman. BBC Russia identified her as co-owner of a company planning to build a massive medical centre.
Mrs Vorontsova is married to Dutch businessman Jorrit Joost Faassen, who once worked at Russian state energy giant Gazprom, although they have reportedly separated.
People who have spoken to her since the Ukraine invasion say she supports her father, and has cast doubt over international reporting of the conflict.
Compared to her sister, Katerina Tikhonova has been much more in the public eye, not least due to her talents as a rock n’ roll dancer. She and her partner came fifth at an international event in 2013.
Ms Tikhonova has assumed a public role without being called President Putin’s daughterThat same year, she married Kirill Shamalov, the son of a long-time friend of President Putin. Their wedding was held at an exclusive ski resort near St Petersburg. Workers there said the couple arrived on a sleigh drawn by three white horses.
Mr Shamalov was sanctioned by the US in 2018 for his role in Russia’s energy sector. The US Treasury said that “his fortunes drastically improved following the marriage”. The pair have since split.
Following the invasion of Ukraine, two Russian activists were arrested for occupying a luxury villa in Biarritz said to be owned by Mr Shamalov.
Ms Tikhonova is now in academia and business. She made a brief appearance on Russian state media in 2018 to talk about neurotechnology and also at a business forum in 2021. In neither cases was her relationship to the president mentioned.
Neither woman is said to spend a lot of time with President Putin.
Mr Putin also has grandchildren. He mentioned them at a phone-in in 2017, but did not say how many he had or which of his daughters had them.
“Regarding my grandchildren, one is already in nursery school. Please understand, I don’t want them to grow up like some kind of royal princes. I want them to grow up like normal people,” he said.
Putin’s daughters were just sanctioned. Here’s what we know about them
Vladimir Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova speaks via video link during a panel session last year at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — Russia’s version of Davos. Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Vladimir Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova speaks via video link during a panel session last year at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — Russia’s version of Davos.
Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The U.S. has announced additional sanctions against Russia, following alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine. Among those on the latest list of sanctions are two adult daughters of President Vladimir Putin.
“We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members and that’s why we’re targeting them,” a senior Biden administration official said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.
Politics
New U.S. sanctions target Russia’s largest banks and Putin’s children
Putin has refused to publicly acknowledge the names of his children, but the Treasury Department identified the daughters being sanctioned as Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova and Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova. One is a pediatric endocrinologist, the other a former competitive dancer turned tech executive.
Putin is intensely private when it comes to his family, and many details about his children have been scarce and shrouded in secrecy. Here’s what we know about them.
Putin rarely speaks publicly about his children
Both are the daughters of Putin’s ex-wife, Lyudmila Putina, an Aeroflot flight attendant whom Putin married in 1983. The two later divorced after three decades of marriage.
One of the few times Putin has spoken about his children came during a news conference in 2015, according to the BBC. “My daughters live in Russia and studied only in Russia, I am proud of them,” Putin said. “They speak three foreign languages fluently. I never discuss my family with anyone.”
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“Every person has a right for their fate, they live their own life and do it with dignity,” he said.
In Russian public life, the daughters are not identified as Putin’s children and for years they were kept out of the spotlight. But their profiles have slowly risen in the past several years as they have taken on influential positions inside the country.
Putin’s eldest daughter is an endocrinologist
Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova is known by several other last names: Faassen is her married surname, and she sometimes is also called Maria Putina. Her nickname is Masha.
Born in 1985, Vorontsova now works as a pediatric endocrinologist and genetics researcher. She is listed as a doctor at the Endocrinology Research Center Moscow, though she’s the only physician on the center’s website without a photo. The site identifies Vorontsova as deputy chairman of the Russian Society of Young Endocrinologists and says she speaks English, German, French and Dutch.
“Vorontsova leads state-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research and are personally overseen by Putin,” according to the Treasury Department.
She appeared in a 2019 interview on Russian television, speaking about children’s obesity and diabetes.
Maria Vorontsova appeared in a 2019 interview on Russian television discussing obesity and diabetes among children.
Телеканал «Доктор» YouTube
In addition to her medical research, she reportedly has business interests. BBC Russia reports that Vorontsova is co-owner of a company that’s “involved in the implementation of the largest private investment project in Russian healthcare.”
Vorontsova is married to a Dutch businessman named Jorrit Joost Faassen, who the BBC reports once worked for the Russian energy giant Gazprom. The two are thought to have separated.
His second daughter is a competitive dancer turned tech executive
Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova was born in Germany in 1986 while Putin was stationed there for the KGB. Her nickname is Katya.
Tikhonova’s last name is a derivation of her grandmother’s name, according to Reuters. For years, she was a competitive acrobatic dancer, and several videos of her energetic performances with partner Ivan Klimov are online.
Katerina Tikhonova competed for years as an acrobatic dancer. In the video above, she competes with dance partner Ivan Klimov circa 2014.
rnrmovie YouTube
Today, she is “a tech executive whose work supports the [government of Russia] and defense industry,” the U.S. Treasury says.
In 2015, Bloomberg reported on a new $1.6 billion startup incubator and science center next to Moscow State University — to be run by Tikhonova. At the time, she headed the National Intellectual Reserve Center and was a member of the economic board at Moscow State.
Tikhonova spoke at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — Russia’s version of Davos — last year about international investment disputes. At the conference, she was identified as the deputy director for the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University.
Tikhonova was reportedly married to Kirill Shamalov, a shareholder of a Russian petrochemicals company and the son of a longtime acquaintance of Putin from St. Petersburg.
A 2015 Reuters investigation put the couple’s corporate holdings at about $2 billion, primarily from Shamalov’s petrochemicals stake. The couple also owned a villa in Biarritz, France, with an estimated value of $3.7 million, according to Reuters.
The two reportedly split in 2018.
Putin is a grandfather. And he may have other children
In a 2017 televised Q&A reported by Russian news agency Tass, Putin said he had recently welcomed a second grandchild, and he explained why he shields his family from scrutiny.
“You see, I do not want them to be brought up as ‘blue bloods.’ I want them to grow up as normal people,” he said.
“As soon as I state their ages, names, they would be identified immediately, and any enormous interest would damage the kids’ development,” Putin said. “So, everything is fine, and I am asking you to understand me correctly and to respect this position.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva in 2004. Sergei Chirkov/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva in 2004.
Sergei Chirkov/AFP via Getty Images
His current partner is thought to be former Olympic gold medal rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, though Putin has refused to confirm their relationship.
When a reporter asked Putin about his relationship with Kabaeva, Newsweek reports that Putin responded: “I am, of course, aware of the cliché that politicians live in glass houses, but even in these cases, there must be some limits . I always disliked people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person’s life.”
The two are thought to have several children together, and Kabaeva is rumored to be currently ensconced in Switzerland.
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