The daughters of Russian president Vladimir Putin have been targeted by financial sanctions as the US rolls out a wave of new measures amid fears the leader is storing cash through his family. President Biden has also targeted Russian banks and elites in a new package of sanctions.
The economic measures targeting President Putin and the industries funding the war were announced on Wednesday. It comes after Boris Johnson said the actions of Russian forces in Ukraine appeared close to “genocide”, and pledged Britain would be in the “front rank” of nations imposing new sanctions on Moscow.
The announcement included the Russian President’s adult daughters, Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, who are both in their 30s and rarely seen in public. Putin is said to be one of the world’s richest men, but it has been long suspected that his fortune is stashed among family members and associates. You can get more news on the war in Ukraine and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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“We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members, and that’s why we’re targeting them,” a senior US official told reporters on Wednesday, reports the Independent.
The White House said Ms Vorontsova and Ms Tikhonova were being added to the sanctions list “for being the adult children of Putin, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked”. The new measures have also been imposed on the family of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and major Russian banks.
Who are Putin’s daughters?
Putin announced that he had separated from his daughters' mother, Lyudmilla Putina, after almost 30 years of marriage in a staged interview with a Russian journalist in 2013. Katerina, 35, and Maria, 36, have never been officially confirmed as Putin's children - but live relatively normal lifestyles.
So secretive is Putin, that Katerina was only publicly named by a Russian media outlet as Vladimir Putin's younger daughter in 2015. "I have never been specific about the workplaces of my daughters and their line of work, and I'm not going to do so now. For many reasons, including security considerations," he said. Read about how mums in Ukraine are writing names and contact details on their children's bodies in case the worst happens.
The Mirror has reported that he confirmed his daughters were living in Moscow where they were "making the first steps in their careers, and doing well." He added: "They are not involved in business or politics", and revealed that they were both fluent in three European languages. "I'm a proud father," he said. "My daughters have never been star-struck children. They never craved the limelight."
According to media reports, Maria, 36, is married to Jorrit Joost Faassen, a Dutch businessman, and they have a child. She followed a career in biomedicine, and became a genetics researcher, with a specialism in dwarfism. In 2013 Katerina, 35, married Kirill Shamalov, a Russian billionaire who owns a large stake in a gas and petrochemical company, and the son of the co-owner of Rossiya Bank, but the pair have now split. As of 2015 they were believed to be living in Moscow.
In 2020, Putin told Russian media how the country's coronavirus vaccine had been tested on one of his daughters - but did not reveal who. He disclosed that he was a grandfather five years ago in an interview with Oliver Stone, the Hollywood director.
"Are you a grandfather yet?" Stone asked Putin during an interview. "Yes," replied Mr Putin. "Are you a good grandfather, do you play with them in the garden?", Stone then probes. "Very seldom, unfortunately," Mr Putin replies, with a seemingly sad smile. "I am proud of them," Mr Putin told Stone. "They are not into big business or politics. They are into science and education."
Katerina previously competed in acrobatic rock'n'roll dance competitions and headed up a mathematical research centre at Moscow State University. Ms Tikhonova is now thought to be director of Innopraktika, a $1.7bn project to create a science centre at Moscow State University, as well as deputy director of the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at the same institution.
The US described Katerina as a “technology executive whose work supports the GoR [Russian government] and defence industry.” While she and Maria are the only children Mr Putin has acknowledged, it has long been rumoured in the Russian press that he has multiple other offspring from his affairs with millionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh and Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Alina Kabaeva. He has always angrily denied the speculation.
The sanctions announcement comes as international outrage grows over atrocities being carried out by Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine.
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