Vladimir Putin’s Youngsters: Names, Ages, Why He Retains Them Secret

Russian President Vladimir Putin is famously secretive about his private life.

Putin has lengthy tried to defend his private life from the highlight.

He has hardly ever publicly acknowledged his youngsters, although media retailers have for years reported that he has two daughters along with his ex-wife.

Putin can be rumored to have had extramarital affairs which will have produced different youngsters.

Putin’s household affairs are so secretive that studies of his daughter’s second marriage solely emerged eight years after the actual fact.

However as worldwide stress mounts on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, sanctions have closed in on his private networks — and particularly, his youngsters and rumored girlfriends.

One daughter from his first marriage, Katerina Tikhonova, has been entrusted with a key job overseeing import substitutions as Russia reels underneath sanctions.

Simply weeks earlier than the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s rumored then-girlfriend Alina Kabaeva praised the state’s struggle correspondents, saying their work is as efficient as “a Kalashnikov.”

Here’s what we all know concerning the lives of Putin’s secret children and companions.

Their daughters’ names are Maria and Katerina. Maria was born in St. Petersburg in 1985, and Katerina was born in Germany in 1986.

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek

Each women are named after their grandmothers. Maria’s nickname is Masha, and Katerina’s nickname is Katya.

Masha and Katya are widespread Russian shortenings for Maria and Katerina.

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek

When the household moved to Moscow in 1996, the women attended a German-language college. The kids had been reportedly faraway from college when Putin turned appearing president, and lecturers educated them at house.

Supply: Newsweek

“Not all fathers are as loving with their youngsters as he’s,” Lyudmila stated in an undated quote on Putin’s authorities web site. “And he has all the time spoiled them, whereas I used to be the one who needed to self-discipline them.”

Supply: Vladimir Putin

However as Putin gained political energy, his youngsters noticed him much less and fewer, in line with one among his early biographers.

His first official biographer, Natalya Gevorkyan, interviewed him and his household in 1999.

The household was quickly remoted and surrounded by safety after Putin turned prime minister for the primary time, she stated.

His daughters advised her that they admired their father and had been happy with him, however it appeared they did not get to see him a lot, she stated.

Supply: BBC Sounds

Putin’s marriage may have been loveless. Lyudmila “was not a cheerful girl” and Putin would not “maintain” her, his biographer stated.

“I understood that [Lyudmila] was not a cheerful girl. She was not,” the biographer Gevorkyan stated, talking of her interviews carried out in 1999.

Gevorkyan stated she had the impression Putin didn’t love her. She recalled Lyudmila as saying: “There are ladies who’re admired by males, I feel I’m not that sort of girl. He is not going to maintain me in his fingers.”

Gevorkyan stated Lyudmila’s tone was “extra with respect” to her husband.

“I had the sensation that she actually beloved him,” she added. “And I had a sense that she was not that a lot beloved again. I did not have the sensation that it was a profitable marriage for her.”

Supply: BBC Sounds

Putin and Lyudmila introduced their divorce in 2013, though they had been probably residing separate lives lengthy earlier than that.

Lyudmila had change into “nearly invisible” in Putin’s public life, in line with professor of worldwide affairs at New York’s New College, Nina Khrushcheva. 

Putin was rumored to be seeing Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, whereas Luydmila was believed to have begun courting businessman and triathlete Arthur Ocheretny by round 2010. 

Sources: BBC, Proekt, Politico.

In the meantime, the daughters had been rising up. Maria studied biology earlier than medical college, whereas Katerina majored in Asian Research in faculty. Each women attended college underneath false identities.

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek

There are not any official present photographs of the ladies. For Katerina, we discovered the marginally various first names of “Katerina”, “Katya”, and “Yekaterina,” and the final names “Putina,” “Tikhonova,” and “Shamalov.”

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek

Maria is a medical researcher. In keeping with studies, she married Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen, though it is unclear precisely when.

Maria seems to have a decrease public profile than Katerina. Right here, she is seen presenting at a 2022 pediatrics convention. 

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek, Bloomberg

Maria and Faassen reportedly have a toddler — Putin advised filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2017 that he was a grandfather. When Stone requested if he performed along with his grandchild, Putin replied: “Very seldom, sadly.”

Sources: Reuters, The Impartial, Bloomberg, Day by day Mail

In the meantime, Katerina reportedly lives a high-flying life, residing in lavish flats and buying a fortune.

Sources: Reuters, The Impartial, Bloomberg, Day by day Mail

Katerina is an completed acrobatic dancer, tech government, and has a publish overseeing Russian import substitutions.

She runs Innopraktika, one of many college’s initiatives to foster younger scientists, in addition to being deputy director of a mathematical institute there.  

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN

Right here she is in her dancing days on the 2013 Rock ‘n’ Roll World Championship in Winterthur, Switzerland, representing Russia.

She took fifth place at that yr’s remaining. 

Supply: WRRC

Katerina married Russian billionaire Kirill Shamalov in 2013, although they’re reportedly now not collectively. Their marriage ceremony was a lavish affair on the Igora resort in St. Petersburg.

The marriage was extremely safe and included a laser present, an ice-skating show, and a mock Russian village, in line with Reuters. 

A 2023 investigation discovered that the couple, although married by a priest in an elaborate ceremony, by no means formalized their vows on the registry workplace, as required by the Russian Orthodox Church. The report advised this was linked to the construction of the household’s huge and secretive property holdings. 

By 2018, the pair had cut up, in line with Bloomberg. 

Sources: Reuters, The Guardian, Proekt   

Shamalov prospered throughout the marriage, racking up profitable enterprise pursuits. By the point he and Katerina cut up in 2018, the divorce papers revealed they had been price $2 billion.

As early as 2016, the couple had been hardly corresponding, and Shamalov had seen profitable shares in vitality firm Sibur returned to Putin’s buddies, a 2023 investigation reported. 

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Proekt

Flight data counsel that in 2017, Katerina had begun a clandestine relationship with German ballet star Igor Zelensky and had a daughter with him.

Zelensky has served because the director of the Bavarian State Ballet and the Munich State Ballet. 

Sources: Essential Tales, Der Spiegel

Katerina secretly flew to Munich greater than 50 instances to see Zelensky between 2017 and 2019, with their daughter in tow.

The connection was revealed by a 2022 investigation that examined Katerina’s flight data, exhibiting that she traveled with members of Putin’s presidential secret service.

Supply: Essential Tales, Der Spiegel

There are rumors that Putin has a 3rd daughter with ex-girlfriend and former Russian rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

It is unclear precisely when Putin started courting the famed gymnast, however rumors had been swirling lengthy earlier than he and Lyudmila introduced their divorce. 

In a 2008 information convention in Italy, a reporter requested him concerning the chatter, which Putin dismissed, including: “I all the time disliked individuals who go round with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into one other individual’s life.”

Supply: New York Submit, Proekt, NPR

Neither the kid nor the connection with Kabaeva have been confirmed by Russia.

After retiring from gymnastics, Kabaeva turned an MP for the pro-Kremlin United Russia social gathering till 2014.

She went on to go up the nation’s largest media conglomerate, the Nationwide Media Group. 

Supply: Enterprise Insider, TASS. 

Reviews have additionally surfaced {that a} former cleansing woman, Svetlana Krivonogikh, had an affair with Putin and all of the sudden moved into one among St. Petersburg’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

Impartial investigations have reported that the pair had an in depth friendship between the late Nineties and the tip of the 2010s, which resulted in a daughter.

In that point, Krivonogikh went from a former cleansing woman to the billionaire proprietor of one among Putin’s favourite ski resorts.

Sources: Proekt, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Venture

Krivonogikh’s daughter, who was born in 2003, is known as Elizaveta Vladimirovna Rozova and goes by Luisa. Id papers don’t point out a father, however her center identify means “daughter of Vladimir.” She has not confirmed any relationship.

The Proekt investigation remarked on Elizaveta’s “phenomenal resemblance” to Putin and lots of connections between the president and her mom, however no relationship has been confirmed.

In a 2021 journal interview, Elizaveta’s face was not depicted. When requested whether or not she regarded like Putin, she agreed, however stated “there are lots of people much like Vladimir Vladimirovich,” utilizing an alternate, respectful identify for Putin.

Sources: Proekt, Russian GQ

Regardless of this, Katerina made her debut on Russian state TV as a biotechnology skilled in December 2018.

Her look didn’t embrace feedback on her being associated to Putin. The hyperlink was briefly made public in the midst of a dance competitors, however later retracted.

Supply: Enterprise Insider, Reuters

In June 2021, Katerina addressed a convention that is thought of Russia’s equal of Davos — however no person referred to as her Putin’s daughter, apparently out of concern of reprisal from the Kremlin.

Supply: Washington Submit

In late 2020, Putin introduced Russia had completed its COVID-19 vaccine, though it had but to finish medical assessments. Putin stated he gave the shot to one among his daughters, however would not specify which one.

Sources: Enterprise Insider, BBC, Politico

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, prompting condemnation from all over the world. No assertion got here from Katerina or Maria, however scrutiny of their households ramped up.

In March 2022, an activist broke right into a property owned by Katerina’s ex-husband Kirill Shamalov in Biarritz, France, saying he was going to make use of it to host Ukrainian refugees.

Greater than a yr later, because the struggle dragged on, Dutch authorities seized land belonging to Maria’s ex-husband Jorrit Faassen, who was underneath suspicion of evading sanctions. 

Sources: Insider, The Insider, The Guardian

In April 2022, the US sanctioned Maria and Katerina, saying that that they had “enriched themselves on the expense of the Russian individuals.”

A White Home assertion stated: “This motion cuts them off from the US monetary system and freezes any property they maintain in the US.”

The UK rapidly adopted swimsuit, saying it was focusing on Maria and Katerina’s “lavish life.” 

The US announcement additionally contained extra particulars about their work, saying that it has shut ties to the Kremlin.

Tikhonova’s work helps Russia’s authorities and protection trade, whereas Vorontsova’s genetics analysis applications are personally overseen by Putin, the White Home stated.

Supply: ABC Information

The US stated it believed the ladies had been hiding property for Putin, which was its rationale for sanctioning them. The Kremlin advised the transfer was anti-Russian.

“We consider that lots of Putin’s property are hidden with members of the family and that is why we’re focusing on them,” a senior official on the Biden administration stated, in line with ABC Information.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s prime spokesperson, stated the Kremlin discovered the choice “obscure” and framed it as a part of a “rabid” Western animosity in the direction of Russia.

Sources: ABC Information, Reuters

Since Spring of 2022, the listing of nations which have slapped sanctions on Maria and Katerina has solely grown.

Now, the US, UK, European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have all imposed sanctions on the ladies.

Sources: Related Press, Reuters, Reuters, Japan Occasions, New Zealand Herald

In July 2022, as sanctions started to chew in Russia, Katerina was given a prime publish overseeing import substitutions.

Tikhonova was appointed to a place on the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, generally known as RSPP.

Putin critics speculated that the shakeup at RSPP, a key Russian enterprise foyer, was executed to assist bolster the nation’s lagging economic system, which stays closely depending on overseas imports and has suffered from the bevy of worldwide sanctions imposed as a result of struggle in Ukraine. 

State media reporting on Tikhonova’s appointment did not point out her relationship to Putin.

Sources: RBC, Fortune

In the summertime of 2022, the US added Kabaeva to its sanctions listing, citing her “shut relationship” with Putin.

The US authorities had initially held off sanctioning Kabaeva on the idea that it will be too private a provocation to Putin — a reservation that means the White Home, at the least, is in little doubt about their relationship. 

However Kabaeva was lastly sanctioned in August over her ties to the Russian authorities. 

Sources: The Wall Avenue Journal, US Treasury

In March 2023, the Innopraktika Institute, headed up by Katerina, scolded Russian youth for not being patriotic sufficient on-line.

The report, which examined younger individuals’s social media exercise, likened the drop in patriotism to a hybrid particular navy operation waged towards Russia by overseas international locations — utilizing language extra related to how Putin characterizes his personal invasion of Ukraine. 

Sources: The Moscow Occasions, Rozkomnadzor

Each daughters appeared at Russia’s financial discussion board in 2024.

On the 2024 St. Petersburg Worldwide Financial Discussion board, Katerina appeared just about, commenting on the “technological sovereignty” of the nation’s navy, CNN reported. 

The next day, Maria spoke in individual on a panel about biotech improvements. Programming listed her as a member of the Russian Affiliation for the Promotion of Science, in line with CNN.