Vladimir Putin is considering parachuting his daughter into parliament as a new power-broker as his health deteriorates, it was claimed today.
Katerina Tikhonova, 35, could be made new leader of United Russia, the main political party ruling the country amid Moscow swirling intrigue over the Kremlin succession.
The extraordinary claim over high-kicking ‘rock’n’roll’ dancer Katerina comes from Telegram channel General SVR, which boasts alleged intelligence sources in Putin’s entourage.
The channel has long claimed he is suffering from serious illnesses including cancer, Parkinson’s disease and a schizoaffective disorder.
It also made the astonishing claim that a “double” stood in for Putin at a visit to a hospital to meet war-wounded soldiers in Moscow this week.
And it coincides with a leading Russian military and political figure claiming the war in Ukraine could last up to ten years.
Tikhonova - who recently underwent expensive beauty treatments in Munich - is Putin’s second daughter by former first lady Lyudmila, his ex-wife.
“Putin's inner circle again started talking about the need for a consensus figure for the elites in the leadership of United Russia, which would unite and guarantee the current status quo and the continuity of power,” said the controversial channel which claims to be authored by an exiled Kremlin lieutenant-general insider who is known by the alias Viktor Mikhailovich. .
“The candidacy of the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin Katerina Tikhonova for the post of head of the United Russia party is again being actively discussed.
“And I must say that recently, without exception, all interested persons in Putin's entourage support this idea.”
When the idea was raised at the end of last year “there was no unequivocal approval”.
“Now the situation has changed and the war, which has been going on for three months, has created the prerequisites and the demand of the elites for a clear understanding of their future without Putin,” claimed the channel.
It continues to claim that if Putin is suddenly incapacitated, the reins of power will fall initial to grey cardinal Nikolai Patrushev, 70, secretary of the Russian security council, rather than technocrat prime minister Mikhail Mishustin, 56, who should take the reins of power according to the constitution.
But it also now claims that the next president could be Patrushev’s son, Dmitry, 44, now the agriculture minister, with Tikhonova - not currently in parliament - acting as a puppet master.
"Today, Putin is the only guarantor of the stability of the system, and this, in the conditions of war and circulating information about the serious illnesses of the president, begins to cause maximum anxiety among the elites,” said the post.
“In the understanding of a narrow circle of people who have access to the presidential ear, Katerina Tikhonova is the only person who can act as a guarantor of the stability of the existence of the Putin regime, without being a direct successor.
“Being at the helm of the party in power and actually managing the State Duma and the Federation Council [the two houses of parliament], Tikhonova will balance any successor to the presidency.
“In general, Putin approves of such a position of succession as Dmitry Patrushev as the president, and Katerina Tikhonova as the mistress of the power system.
“How close this option will be to implementation, we will soon see.
“The President will not be able to delay such decisions.”
In another surprise claim, General SVR alleged a double had stood in for an ailing Putin when he was shown on TV visiting Mandryk Central Military Clinical Hospital, accompanied by defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
It has also claimed that Putin last week underwent surgery for cancer, though this was not revealed by the Kremlin.
And it has said that “canned” footage of Putin in meetings has been used in recent days to hide him undergoing medical treatment.
On the hospital visit it stated: “Putin and the FSO [Federal Security Service], of course, are master illusionists, but they are still far from the glory of David Copperfield.”
Putin’s forces could be embroiled for up to a decade in the war in Ukraine, warned Vladimir Shamanov, a top MP who is a former commander of Russian paratroopers.
He was described as the “Butcher of Chechnya” for his role in suppressing the strife-torn region in two wars but was awarded the Hero of Russia top honour .
Asked about the future conduct of the war in Ukraine, he said: “This is the most difficult question to predict right now.
“There will be a very long period of time where only we will be present because we have to fully demilitarise Ukraine, which is a difficult issue that will take five to ten years.
“Second is deNazification, which will go in parallel.
“The formation of a government that has not gotten itself dirty with these neo-Nazis, and that will be difficult to do.”
Tikonova was revealed this month as having made regular trips to Munich to be with her new lover Igor Zelensky, 52, who until recently headed the Bavarian State Ballet.
The Russian ballet icon was ousted after refusing to denounce Putin’s savage war in Ukraine.
Previously she was married to Russia’s youngest billionaire Kirill Shamalov, 40, whose father is a close Putin crony.
Born when her father was a KGB spy in Germany, Tikhonova is said to be deputy director of the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University.
Earlier, before her identity as Putin’s daughter was known, she took part in international ‘rock’n’roll’ dancing contests.
Her elder sister is Dr Maria Vorontsova, a leading researcher at the National Medical Research Centre for Endocrinology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.
She has a half-sister Luiza Rozova, 19, daughter of Putin’s ex-lover, cleaner-turned-multimillionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45.
Krivonogikh is now part-owner of a major Russian bank, one of the country's wealthiest women with an estimated £74 million financial and property fortune.
eneral SVR channel is also seen as linked to political analyst Professor Valery Solovey - who has claimed detailed knowledge of Putin’s supposed health problems.
Solovey - who boasts secret sources in the Kremlin - said in an interview with Zhivoi Gvozd youtube channel: “It is an undeniable fact that [Putin] has a whole bunch of quite serious diseases.”
He was formerly a professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) - attended by future top diplomats and spies.
US filmmaker Oliver Stone, who spent many hours with Putin making documentaries on him, alleged in recent days that the Kremlin leader has suffered cancer in the past, which he had “licked”.
Ex-MI6 director Sir Richard Dearlove has predicted Putin faces being sent to a sanatorium, and will be gone by 2023, due to medical issues.
Other Western sources have become convinced recently that warmonger Putin is suffering significant health problems.
Putin - who will be 70 in October - recently failed to take part in an annual ice hockey match that is normally a regular fixture in his diary.
Last year he had said of playing ice hockey: “You extend your life, you make it of better quality and deeper meaning
Solovey was caught in a sting released this month, after being filmed by an undercover camera meeting a senior British diplomat in a central Moscow restaurant.
Footage likely from the Russian secret services and released on pro-Putin Telegram channels showed him and separately other Moscow opposition pundits in conversation with the UK diplomat.
British sources do not deny the meetings which evidently show the diplomat doing her job engaging with a range of interlocutors.
