What do we know about Vladimir Putin's family?

It is well known that Russian President Putin is a private man, even more so if we refer to his family. He has maintained s strict secrecy about it for years, so much so, that in a New York Times article in 2012 (relatively unsuspecting times), talking about Putin's family was defined as a "taboo." However, the war in Ukraine changed everything. Why?

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The Western sanctions, imposed on Russia in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, immediately took aim at the Russian leader and his circle of power. They helped shed light on Putin's family and brought to the fore details we didn't know before.

Newspapers around the world competed to as many details about Putin's family as possible. They went as far as to locate an "unofficial family" alongside the "official" and known relatives of Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin has rarely spoken about his children, but some media outlets such as the Daily Mail consider it public knowledge that he is the father of at least two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila Putina, here in the photo.

Putin and Lyudmila Putina were married in 1983. They announced their divorce on June 6, 2013, after 30 years of marriage.

Photo: Kremlin.ru / Wikimedia Commons

From the president's union with his ex-wife Lyudmila Putina, his first daughter was born: Maria Vladimirovna Putina.

Photo: Kremlin.ru / Wikimedia Commons

Maria, also known as Maria Vorontsova (or Maria Faassen when married), was named after Putin's mother, Maria Ivanovna Shelomova.

Maria studied medicine at Moscow State University, specializing in endocrinology. According to Bloomberg, she is her father's trusted advisor on genetic engineering. She argues that editing human DNA should be banned in the private sector and limited to state-run facilities.

That's right, the Russian president is a grandfather. Maria married Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen with whom she had a son. In 2022 Maria and Jorrit allegedly got divorced.

Maria, her ex-husband and her son lived in the Netherlands until controversy forced her to leave. According to the New York Post, the couple had started to feel very uncomfortable in the country after the attack on flight MH17 in the skies over Ukraine in 2014. According to international reconstructions of the attack, it was Maria's father who "provided the missile that killed 193 Dutch in the skies over Ukraine," the Post says.

Putin's second daughter would be Yekaterina Vladimirovna Putina. She abandoned her father's surname to use that of her maternal grandmother Shkrebneva. As such, she now has the name Katerina Tikhonova, according to the Daily Mail.

Putin's alleged second daughter was born in 1986. Although she attended the same schools as her sister Maria, she took a different path, as reported by the Daily Mail. To date, Katerina is the director of the Institute for Mathematical Research on Complex Systems at Moscow State University.

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Surprisingly, though, it seems she's best known for being a successful rock 'n roll dancer.

Also according to the Daily Mail, Katerina was vice president for expansion and marketing of the World Rock and Roll Confederation, the body responsible for international acrobatic rock 'n roll competitions.

Putin is also believed to have a third daughter. She is called Luiza Rozova (aka Elizaveta Krivonogikh) and she has never been formally recognized by the Russian president.

Photo: Luizaroz_ / Instagram

Luiza's mother, Svetlana Krivonogikh, never confirmed that Putin was the father of her daughter, despite persistent rumors. The media have highlighted the fact that Krivonogikh worked as a maid for Putin and then became a multimillionaire (and one of the richest women in the country) in an extremely short period of time.

(Photo: Putin as a young man, in 1970)

Luiza had 84,000 followers on Instagram, mainly thanks to her 'secret' father's fame and the fact that she was rich. But everything changed, Metro reports, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine began. She closed her account after being heavily targeted following the war.

Photo: Luizaroz_ / Instagram

Luiza's posts were mostly about the great trips she took and her fashion brand. The student, who according to Metro information lived in Vladimir Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, took a break from social media when the backlash against the Russian invasion began.

Photo: Luizaroz_ / Instagram

Some defended her publicly on Instagram, saying: "It's not her fault she has a crazy dad." Others attacked her on a more personal level, saying she "keeps quiet because she knows that if she says a bad word about dad, her money, apartments, and other luxuries will be taken away from her."

The comments and photo come from her Instagram account: Luizaroz_ / Instagram

The Daily Mail says the president's offspring may not end there. Luiza Rozova may not be his youngest daughter at all.

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Also according to the Daily Mail, Putin would have had a secret relationship with 'the most flexible woman in Russia', the athlete Alina Kabaeva. There has been much controversy over their alleged relationship.

The Olympic gymnast and the Russian president have often been photographed together and rumors of their romantic relationship have circulated for years. The Daily Mail writes that Kabaeva once spoke about a mysterious man whom she said she loved very much.

In 2015, Alina appeared clearly pregnant in public. At the time, media suggested that the baby she was carrying was Putin's. Then, in 2019, the former gymnast gave birth to another child.

Although her great sporting merits make her a well-known figure in Russia, Alina has not been seen in public in recent years, according to Metro. The newspaper adds that Putin's alleged lover is "hiding in a luxury chalet in Switzerland."

According to Proekt, an independent Russian site specializing in investigative journalism, however, Alina Kabaeva has not abandoned Russia and is living in a luxurious residence in Valdai, north of Moscow, together with her two children and... Vladimir Putin himself.

The president's actions have drawn scrutiny to his family, but he already declared to the Washington Post in 2015 that his daughters "are not involved in business or politics." Apart from that, he said something we already knew: "I never talk about my family with anyone."

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