Vladimir Putin 's youngest daughter made 50 trips to Europe with full support of the Kremlin to visit her new lover, it has been revealed.
Katerina Tikhonova, 35, who competed as a rock and roll acrobatic dancer before getting in to business, is the youngest of Putin's two daughters with ex-Kremlin first lady Lyudmila Putina.
Katerina travelled from Moscow to Munich in southern Germany "more than 50 times" to visit her new man, Igor Zelensky - who used to direct the Bavarian State Ballet, an investigation has found.
Between 2017 and 2019 Katerina made dozens of trips - flying on chartered planes and while escorted by Putin's own personal security detail, the investigation claims.
The trips were made with full state support despite Putin's regular outbursts against the oligarchs and billionaires he brands as traitors for living or holidaying in the West.
In addition to the flight log, the investigators discovered a passport copy of a two-year-old girl, who is suspected of being Igor and Katerina's daughter, and one of the despot's grandchildren.
The revelation comes from an investigation by Russian independent news outlet IStories and Germany’s Der Spiegel.
Previously Katerina was wed to Russia ’s youngest billionaire Kirill Shamalov, 40.
They split around 2017 when she started the relationship with the ballet star who was married with two daughters and a son to choreographer Yana Serebryakova.
Until earlier this year and the war in Ukraine, it appears she was living with him in Germany.
The Stories report said: “For two years, from 2017 to 2019, the little girl's mother had to fly this route — from Moscow to Munich and back — many dozens of times.
“She lived in Russia, and her daughter's father lived in Germany, where he directed the Bavarian State Ballet. His name is Igor Zelensky.”
The journalistic investigation found documents proving flights involving “Tikhonova, Zelensky, a child, nannies, security guards”.
It revealed that over a two year period “she flew to Munich, where Zelensky worked, more than 50 times.”
From an anonymous source, the outlet obtained “documents from the e-mail of the Security Service of the President and Tikhonova's personal security guard Alexei Skripchak”.
“In Skripchak's documents there are passports of Putin's daughter, Zelensky and a girl born in 2017.
“Tikhonova's security guard bought them all tickets.
“We do not disclose the child's name for ethical reasons, it is enough just to say that her patronymic is Igorevna, which corresponds to Zelensky's name.”
Zelensky - who was Russian born with Georgian roots and not believed to be related to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky - quit the Bavarian State Ballet last month, apparently after refusing to condemn Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine.
The report said that a Der Spiegel source at the Bavarian Ballet, when asked about his former head, immediately replied that Zelensky was "most likely the partner of Putin's daughter” even before they had asked about his family ties.
“By the end of 2019, Katerina Tikhonova apparently got tired of constantly flying to Munich, and she decided to move in with her partner.” Said the report.
