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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Benjamin Lynch

How Putin's daughters earned wealth as Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonov sanctioned

The US has announced a wave of fresh sanctions against the adult daughters of Vladimir Putin.

The move on Maria Putina and Katerina Tikhonova is partly in response to the horrific scenes of alleged genocide in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv

Around 300 bodies of civilians have been found in the town, including some with their hands tied behind their backs.

More recent reports show that the German intelligence agency BND claims to have intercepted radio messages from Russian military sources discussing the killings in the town.

A source for German news magazine Der Spiegel said: It's true that the federal government has indications of Russian perpetration in Bucha... However, these findings on Bucha refer to satellite images. The radio transmissions cannot be clearly assigned to Bucha."

Russian officials have denied that troops are responsible for war crimes.

With more information about the horrific deaths in Bucha continuing to emerge, the US, G7 and EU announced new sanctions.

The UK revealed they have imposed an asset freeze Sberbank, the Kremlin's largest bank.

Who are Putin's daughters and why have been sanctioned?

Maria Putina, 36, and Katerina Tikhonova, 35, are not officially acknowledged to be Putin's daughters, but are well-known to be two of his children and are identified by the US Treasury department.

They are thought to be the daughters of Putin and his ex-wife Lyudmila.

The Russian leader once said: "My daughters live in Russia and studied only in Russia, I am proud of them.

"They speak three foreign languages fluently. I never discuss my family with anyone."

Maria is a doctor specialising in the endocrine system in children, while Katerina is a former competitive dancer who is now a tech executive.

Sanctions have been used to target the network close to Putin in an attempt to put pressure on the Russian economy.

Putin's connections to mass wealth in Russia is well-known and much of his power is drawn from the fortunes of the billionaire oligarchs that hoarded state assets like gas and oil.

How did Putin's daughters get rich?

Katerina Tikhonova is deputy director at Moscow State University and has been sanctioned (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Putin's two adult daughters are believed to have earned their wealth from having "hidden" Putin's state assets.

On April 6, a senior Biden administration official said: "We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members and that's why we're targeting them."

Maria Vorontsova is believed to have benefitted usually from state-funded programmes.

The US Treasury said: "Vorontsova leads state-funded programmes that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research and are personally overseen by Putin."

She reportedly has a 20% stake in Nomeko, a medical firm that looks into cancer research. As a result, she is believed to be able to afford a luxury Moscow penthouse.

She is also the wife of businessman Jorrit Joost Faassen, said to have worked for Gazprom, Russia's state energy company, though the two are now believed to be separated.

In a similarly wealthy marriage, Katerina Tikhonova was reportedly married to sanctioned billionaire Kirill Shamalov until 2018. In 2015, the couple were said to be worth around £1.52 billion.

Vladimir Putin's daughters Maria and Katerina in 1985 (Alamy Stock Photo)
The girls are believed to be children of Putin and his wife Lyudmila (REUTERS)

Katerina has also been reported by Bloomberg to have overseen the startup of a £1.2 billion science centre next to Moscow State University.

Putin's daughters have been sanctioned, as have Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife and daughter and members of Russia’s Security Council. This includes former President and Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

The US said: "These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people. Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putin’s war on Ukraine.

"This action cuts them off from the U.S. financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States."

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