Putin has 2 daughters he barely ever talks about, and is rumored to have at least 2 more

Lyudmila Putina

Russian President Vladimir and his now ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva.Sergey Ponomarev/AP

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin has at least two daughters he rarely talks about.

  • He has two adult daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva: Maria, 37, and Katerina, 36.

  • He may have one more daughter with his rumored girlfriend Alina Kabaeva, and another with a mistress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is famously secretive about his personal life, and has fought hard to prevent the media and the world from knowing much about his family.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 24, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, April 24, 2022.AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File

Putin has long made a concerted effort to shield his personal life from the spotlight.

He has rarely publicly acknowledged his children, though media outlets have for years speculated and reported about the two daughters he had with his ex-wife.

Further reports center around rumors that two extramarital affairs may have produced other children.

Putin’s family affairs are so secretive that reports of the second marriage of one of his daughters only emerged in April 2022, thanks to investigative reporting published at least eight years after they reportedly got together.

But as international pressure mounts on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, sanctions have closed in on his personal networks — and in particular, his children and rumored girlfriends.

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

Just weeks before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s rumored girlfriend Alina Kabaeva praised the state’s war correspondents, saying their work is as effective as “a Kalashnikov.”

Here is what we know about the lives of Putin’s secret kids and partners.

Pat Ralph contributed reporting to previous versions of this article, which has been updated with new information.

Putin had two daughters in his first marriage to former flight attendant Lyudmila Shkrebneva, to whom he was married for three decades.

Vladimir Putin Lyudmilla Wife

AP

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Business Insider

Their daughters’ names are Maria and Katerina. Maria was born in Leningrad in 1985, and Katerina was born in Germany in 1986 when the family lived there during her father’s time in the KGB.

Vladimir Putin daughters

Maria and Katerina Putin, from their father’s personal archive.Reuters

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek

Both girls are named after their grandmothers. Maria’s nickname is Masha and Katerina’s nickname is Katya.

vladimir putin parents

Putin’s father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, and his mother, Maria Ivanovna Shelomova.Kremlin

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

Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek

When the family moved to Moscow in 1996, the girls attended a German-language school. The children were reportedly removed from school when Putin became acting president, and teachers educated them at home.

vladimir putin wife acting president 2000 Lyudmila

Then-acting President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila applaud during a concert after an award ceremony in Gudermes on January 1, 2000.REUTERS

Source: Newsweek

“Not all fathers are as loving with their children as he is,” Lyudmila said in an undated quote on Putin’s government website. “And he has always spoiled them, while I was the one who had to discipline them.”

Vladimir Putin Lyudmilla Wife

Vesti.ru screengrab

Source: Vladimir Putin

But as Putin gathered political power, his children saw him less and less, according to one of his early biographers.

Then-Acting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaking to the media, with ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky in the background, in Moscow, 12 August 1999

Then-Acting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after a meeting in the Duma, Russian parliament’s lower house, in Moscow, 12 August 1999.STR/AP POOL/AFP via Getty Images

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

The family was soon isolated and surrounded by security after Putin became prime minister for the first time, she said.

His daughters told her that they admired their father and were proud of him, but it appeared they didn’t get to see him much, she said.

Source: BBC Sounds

Putin’s marriage may also have been loveless. Lyudmila “was not a happy woman” and Putin wouldn’t “hold” her, his biographer said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila (R) pray during an Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral on April 24, 2011 in Moscow. Russia

Then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila pray during an Orthodox Easter service in Moscow in 2011 in Moscow.Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

“I understood that [Lyudmila] was not a happy woman. She was not,” the biographer Gevorkyan said, speaking of her interviews conducted in 1999.

Gevorkyan said she had the impression Putin did not love her. She recalled Lyudmila as saying: “There are women who are admired by men, I think I am not that kind of woman. He will not hold me in his hands.”

Gevorkyan said Lyudmila’s tone was “more with respect” to her husband.

“I had the feeling that she really loved him,” she added. “And I had a feeling that she was not that much loved back. I didn’t have the feeling that it was a successful marriage for her.”

Source: BBC Sounds

Putin and Lyudmila announced their divorce in 2013, although they were likely living separate lives long before that.

Head-and-shoulder shot of President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila walking through the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, on June 6, 2013, the day they announced their divorce.

Putin and Lyudmila (R) walking through the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, on June 6, 2013, the day they announced their divorce.Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP via Getty Images

Lyudmila had become “almost invisible” in Putin’s public life, according to professor of international affairs at New York’s New School, Nina Khrushcheva.

Putin was rumored to be seeing Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, while by at least 2010 Luydmila was likely to have begun dating businessman and triathlete Arthur Ocheretny.

Sources: BBC, Proekt, Politico.

Meanwhile, the daughters were growing up. Maria studied biology before medical school, while Katerina majored in Asian Studies in college. Both girls attended university under false identities.

A composite image showing headshot video stills of Maria Vorontsova, left, in 2022, and Katerina Tikhonova, right, in 2021.

As adults: Maria Vorontsova, left, in 2022, and Katerina Tikhonova, right, in 2021.Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters / The World Russian People’s Council / Insider

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek

There are no official current photos of the women. For Katerina, we found the slightly varying first names of “Katerina”, “Katya”, and “Yekaterina,” and the last names “Putina,” “Tikhonova,” and “Shamalov.”

Katerina Tikhonova putina vladimir putin daughter

Katerina Tikhonova (L), daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, dances with Ivan Klimov during the World Cup Rock’n’Roll Acrobatic Competition in Krakow, Poland, on April 12, 2014.REUTERS/Jakub Dabrowski

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek

Maria, now 38, is a medical researcher. According to reports, she married Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen, although it’s unclear exactly when.

A screenshot from a video presentation for the 5th Hippocratic Forum by Maria Vorontsova in 2022, showing a head and shoulders image on her on screen.

A screenshot from a video presentation for the 5th Hippocratic Forum by Maria Vorontsova in 2022.The World Russian People’s Council/YouTube

Maria appears to have a lower public profile than Katerina. Here, she is seen presenting at a 2022 pediatrics conference.

Sources: Reuters, Newsweek, Bloomberg

Maria and Faassen reportedly have a child — Putin told filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2017 that he was a grandfather. When Stone asked if he played with his grandchild, Putin replied: “Very seldom, unfortunately.”

vladimir putin oliver stone the putin interviews

“The Putin Interviews” was a four-part series that premiered on Showtime in May 2017.Showtime

Sources: Reuters, The Independent, Bloomberg, Daily Mail

Meanwhile, Katerina reportedly lives a high-flying life, living in lavish apartments and acquiring a fortune.

Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a toast during an award ceremony in the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, on December 28, 2017.Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool Photo via AP

Sources: Reuters, The Independent, Bloomberg, Daily Mail

Katerina, now 36, is an accomplished acrobatic dancer, and today holds two senior positions associated with her alma mater, Moscow State University, as well as a post overseeing Russian import substitutions.

Katerina Putin

Katerina Tikhonova, daughter of Vladimir Putin, dancing.Jakub Dabrowski/Reuters

She runs Innopraktika, one of the university’s initiatives to foster young scientists, as well as being deputy director of a mathematical institute there.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg

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

 

She took fifth place at that year’s final.

 

Source: WRRC

Katerina married Russian billionaire Kirill Shamalov in 2013. Their wedding was a lavish affair at the Igora resort in Leningrad.

Kirill Shamalov

Kirill Shamalov, the former husband of Putin’s daughter KaterinaReuters/Kommersant Photo/Dmitry Dukhanin

The wedding was highly secure and included a laser show, an ice-skating display, and a mock Russian village, according to Reuters.

A 2023 investigation found that the couple, though married by a priest in an elaborate ceremony, never formalized their vows at the registry office, as required by the Russian Orthodox Church.

The report suggested this was connected to the structure of the family’s vast and secretive property holdings.

Sources: Reuters, The Guardian, Proekt   

Shamalov prospered during the marriage, racking up lucrative business interests. By the time he and Katerina split in 2018, the divorce papers revealed they were worth $2 billion.

President Vladimir Putin at the center of a group of businessmen in "Voronezhsintezkauchuk" plant, part of the SIBUR company, in Voronezh. Kirill Shamalov walks to the far right.

Russian President Putin visits “Voronezhsintezkauchuk” plant, part of the SIBUR company, in Voronezh. Shamalov is pictured at the right of the group.Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin via Reuters

As early as 2016, the couple were hardly corresponding, and Shamalov had seen lucrative shares in energy company Sibur returned to Putin’s friends, a 2023 investigation reported.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Proekt

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

German ballet star Igor Zelensky, pictured in front of a chandelier, in 2014.

Igor Zelensky the father of Katerina’s child pictured, in 2014. In 2016 he became director of the Bavarian State Ballet.Tobias Hase/picture alliance via Getty Images

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

Sources: Important Stories, Der Spiegel

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

German ballet director Igor Zelensky pictured with arms raised on stage, with blue lighting behind him, in 2018.

Igor Zelensky on stage in 2018 in Munich, Germany.Gisela Schober/Getty Images

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

Source: Important Stories, Der Spiegel

 

Meanwhile, Maria Vorontsova split with Faassen and had a child with businessman Evgeny Nagorny, independent Russian media reported.

 

Nagorny — who formerly showed an interest in opposition politics — has been flying around the world with Vorontsova since at least 2016, according to a joint investigation by Russian outlets Meduza and Current Time.

They had a child together, and Nagorny became the manager of major gas company Novatek, the outlets reported.

In 2020, per the outlets, Nagorny bought a luxury Moscow apartment in the building pictured above.

Sources: Meduza, Current Time.

There are rumors that Putin has a third daughter with girlfriend and former Russian rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

Alina Kabayeva Vladimir Putin

Putin greets rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva during a meeting with candidates to the Russian Olympic team for the 2004 Summer Olympics, at the presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, outside Moscow, on March 10, 2004.REUTERS/Pool AS

It’s unclear exactly when Putin began dating the famed gymnast, but rumors were swirling long before he and Lyudmila announced their divorce.

In a 2008 news conference in Italy, a reporter asked him about the chatter, which Putin dismissed, adding: “I always disliked people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person’s life.”

Source: New York Post, Proekt, NPR

Neither the child nor the relationship with Kabaeva have been confirmed by Russia.

Alina Kabaeva vladimir putin girlfriend

Putin smiles next to Russian gymnast Alina Kabaeva during a meeting with the Russian Olympic team at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on November 4, 2004.REUTERS/ITAR-TASS/PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE

After retiring from gymnastics, Kabaeva became an MP for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party until 2014.

She went on to head up the country’s largest media conglomerate, the National Media Group.

Source: Business Insider, TASS. 

Reports have also surfaced that a former cleaning lady, Svetlana Krivonogikh, had an affair with Putin and suddenly moved into one of St. Petersburg’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

An aerial view of St Petersburg's prestigious Birch Alley, where one of Putin's rumored mistresses was reported to live.

An aerial view of St Petersburg’s prestigious Birch Alley, where one of Putin’s rumored mistresses was reported to live.Google Earth

Independent investigations have reported that the pair had a close friendship between the late 1990s and the end of the 2010s, which resulted in a daughter.

In that time, Krivonogikh went from a former cleaning lady to the billionaire owner of one of Putin’s favorite ski resorts.

Sources: Proekt, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Krivonogikh’s daughter, born 2003, is called Elizaveta Vladimirovna Rozova, and also goes by Luisa. Identity papers do not indicate a father, but her middle name means “daughter of Vladimir.” She has not confirmed any relationship.

A Google Earth image of St Petersburg's elite Birch Alley complex.

A Google Earth image of St Petersburg’s elite Birch Alley complex.Google Earth

The Proekt investigation remarked on Elizaveta’s “phenomenal resemblance” to Putin and many connections between the president and her mother, but no relationship has been proven.

In a 2021 magazine interview, Elizaveta’s face was not depicted. When asked whether she looked like Putin, she agreed, but said “there are a lot of people similar to Vladimir Vladimirovich,” using an alternative, respectful name for Putin.

Sources: Proekt, Russian GQ

Putin has tried to shelter his children from the media, attempting to keep them out of politics.

World Cup

Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images

Sources: Reuters, Business Insider

Despite this, Katerina made her debut on Russian state TV as a biotechnology expert in December 2018.

putin daughter yekaterina katerina

Katerina Tikhonova (R) on Rossiya 1 on December 7, 2018.Rossiya 1

Her appearance did not include comments on her being related to Putin. The link was briefly made public in the course of a dance competition, but later retracted.

Source: Business Insider, Reuters

In June 2021, Katerina addressed a conference that’s considered Russia’s equivalent of Davos — but nobody called her Putin’s daughter, apparently out of fear of reprisal from the Kremlin.

Katerina Tikhonova.JPG

Katerina Tikhonova at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 4, 2021.Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters

Source: Washington Post

In late 2020, Putin announced Russia had finished its COVID-19 vaccine, although it had yet to complete clinical assessments. Putin said he gave the shot to one of his daughters, but wouldn’t specify which one.

Vladimir Putin coronavirus vaccine

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, on August 11, 2020.Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS

Sources: Business Insider, BBC, Politico

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, prompting condemnation from around the world. No statement came from Katerina or Maria, but scrutiny of them and their families ramped up.

Putin villa biaritz

An image showing an activist flying a Ukrainian flag from the balcony of a villa linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Biarritz, France.Russia Today

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

More than a year later, as the war dragged on, Dutch authorities seized land belonging to Katerina’s ex-husband Jorrit Faassen, who was under suspicion of evading sanctions.

Sources: Insider, The Insider, The Guardian

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

Vladimir Putin Katerina Tikhonova

Getty/Reuters

A White House statement said: “This action cuts them off from the US financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States.”

The UK quickly followed suit, saying it was targeting Maria and Katerina’s “lavish lifestyles.”

 

 

The US announcement also contained more details about their work, saying that it has close ties to the Kremlin.

The main building of Moscow State University.

The main building of the Moscow State University. As of 2021, Tikhonova was deputy director of its Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex SystemsAlexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images

Tikhonova’s work supports Russia’s government and defense industry, while Vorontsova’s genetics research programs are personally overseen by Putin, the White House said.

Source: ABC News

The US said it believed the women were hiding assets for Putin, which was its rationale for sanctioning them. The Kremlin suggested the move was anti-Russian.

Vladimir Putin

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

“We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members and that’s why we’re targeting them,” a senior official at the Biden administration said, according to ABC News.

Putin’s top spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin found the decision “difficult to understand” and framed it as part of a “rabid” Western animosity towards Russia.

Sources: ABC News, Reuters

 

Since Spring, 2022, the list of countries that have slapped sanctions on Maria and Katerina has only grown.

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in BrusselsReuters

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

Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, Reuters, Japan Times, New Zealand Herald

In July 2022, as sanctions began to bite in Russia, Katerina was given a top post overseeing import substitutions.

Putin meets with the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin in Moscow, Russia March 2, 2022

Putin meeting with the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin in March 2022.Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters

Tikhonova was appointed to the post at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, known as RSPP.

Putin critics speculated that the shakeup at RSPP, a key Russian business lobby, was done to help bolster the country’s lagging economy, which remains heavily dependent on foreign imports and has suffered from the bevy of international sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine.

State media reporting on Tikhonova’s appointment didn’t mention her relationship to Putin.

Sources: RBC, Fortune

In summer 2022, the US added Kabaeva to its sanctions list, citing her “close relationship” with Putin.

Alina Kabaeva, smiling and wearing a sequinned dress, at Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia, July,14,2018.

Alina Kabaeva pictured in Moscow in July 2018.Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

The US government had initially held off sanctioning Kabaeva on the basis that it would be too personal a provocation to Putin — a reservation that suggests the White House, at least, is in no doubt about their relationship.

But Kabaeva was finally sanctioned on August 2 over her ties to the Russian government.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, US Treasury

In early February, Kabaeva made a rare speech at a media event, where she said Russia’s media is as powerful as a Kalashnikov rifle in war.

A screenshot from CNN coverage of a speech by Alina Kabaeva in early February 2023. Kabaeva talks in front of a blue background. The chyron reads: "Putin's reputed girlfriens likens propaganda to a Kalashnnnikov."

A screenshot from CNN coverage of a speech by Alina Kabaeva in early February 2023.CNN

Kabaeva made the speech to the National Media Group.

Her praise of “war correspondents” came just a couple of weeks ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sources: Insider, Newsweek

 

In March 2023, the Innopraktika Institute, headed up by Katerina, scolded Russian youth for not being patriotic enough online.

Katerina Tikhonova's face on a large screen above a spotlighted round table at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2021

Katerina Tikhonova on screen at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2021Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters

The report, which examined young people’s social media activity, likened the drop in patriotism to a hybrid special military operation waged against Russia by foreign countries — using language more associated with how Putin characterizes his own invasion of Ukraine.

Sources: The Moscow Times, Rozkomnadzor

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