Who are Mariya and Katerina, the daughters of Vladimir Putin who are in the eye of the storm

After the Bucha massacre, Western countries are analyzing a new series of sanctions against Russia and evaluating including the two daughters of the president Vladimir Putin, Mariya and Katerina. The measure seeks to add pressure against the Kremlin while the war in Ukraine worsens.

The European Union and the United States are studying an embargo on the assets of both, according to media outlets such as Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. The specific intention is to attract the attention of Putinwho until now has supported the military action, despite the multiple condemnations of the invasion.

The measure however, it seems, is more symbolic than effective. It is not known exactly what his assets are. Strictly speaking, Moscow has maintained great secrecy around them. She has never officially confirmed their names and, in fact, they both have different last names.

Putin with the mother of his daughters, Lyudmila. (Photo: AP)

Both Mariya and Katerina are the result of Putin’s marriage to Lyudmila Putina, whom he divorced in 2013. Neither the Kremlin has officially confirmed the affiliation nor have they themselves. In Moscow the official response is that there is no comment on the life of the president’s relatives.

According to the versions that have emerged over the years, it is known that they have spent their lives among Russia and Western Europe. Professionals, they retain a high position in the Russian business world and elite, as well as having significant economic power.

Putin he referred to them only once during a press conference in 2015. “They are taking the first steps in their careers, but they are progressing. They have not been involved in the business world or in politics,” she clarified. She pointed out that they “have not been star girls”, and that they have not enjoyed benefits from their position.

“They live in Russia. And they have not been educated anywhere other than in Russia, ”she stated, amid versions indicating the contrary. “I am proud of them. They continue to study and work and speak three European languages ​​very easily,” he said.

Mariya Vorontsova, 36, the oldest, was born instead in Leningrad, which is now known as St. Petersburg. Katerina Tikhonova, 35, is the president’s youngest daughter. according to appointment The world from Spain, was born in Dresden, East Germany, while Putin was working as a spy for the KGB, the Soviet political police.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the family settled in Leningrad. Despite Putin’s claims, it is claimed that both were sent to Germany to receive much of their training. Mathias Warning, a former agent of the intelligence agency of the former German Democratic Republic, was assigned to his care.

The eldest of Putin’s daughters will turn 37 on April 28. As noted Bloomberg, is a doctor and runs an Artificial Intelligence (AI) center at Moscow State University. She is married to Jorrit Faasen, a Dutch businessman, related to the Russian company Stroitransgaz. Both lived for several years in Voorschoten, an exclusive area near The Hague.

Mariya, the eldest daughter of Vladimir Putin. (ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP)

However, in 2015, they had to leave that location for Moscow. Russia was accused of shooting down a plane traveling from the Netherlands to Malaysia a year earlier, killing all 294 on board. In the midst of the controversy of that moment, the luxurious lifestyle of Mariya Vorontsova and several activists came to request his deportation, according to The country.

Katerina Tikhonova, the youngest daughter, is a physicist and mathematician. She performs her duties at Nomenko, a company in the health sector. She was married between 2013 and 2018 to Kiril Shamalov, a billionaire who is the son of oligarch Nikolai Shamalov, part of Putin’s select inner circle. Shamalov Sr. is one of the shareholders of the Rossiya bank, designated as the financial institution of the Russian elite.

as estimated Reuters, Katerina and Kirill Shamalov In 2015, they had assets valued at 1.8 billion euros. Among other assets, the couple was awarded a house in the French Basque Country for 3.7 million dollars. Kirill Shamalov reportedly made much of his fortune once Putin came to power. He has known the Russian leader since he was conducting municipal politics in St. Petersburg in the 1990s.

Tikhonova had a past as an acrobatic dancer. (Nevar Inc./The Daily Mail)

In the past, Katerina was acrobatic dancer and has worked particularly in the Rock And Roll acrobatic in the competitions organized by the world confederation of this discipline (WRRC, for its acronym in English). He has represented the Russian Federation and has maintained ties with the international organization.

according to appointment TheDailyMailthere are versions that indicate that Katerina Tikhonova may be an eventual successor to Putin in power and that the Kremlin leader has been grooming her to take control of the “tsardom” as the Russian state is known.

Natalia Gevorkyan, biographer of Vladimir Putin, echoed those rumours. “Promoting a woman in a presidential election in Russia is an interesting and modern political experiment,” she considered in a note written for the Radio Svoboda site.

In this sense, Gevorkyan, quoted by the British media, stated that although Putin does not have a male heir, “at least officially”, the possibility that the control of the Russian apparatus could remain in the same family would calm both Putin as to the close circle of power.

Katerina Tikhonova was married to a billionaire, the son of a Russian oligarch. (Navalny.com/The Daily Mail)

Thus, it positions it for the next electoral contest. “In 2024 Katerina will be 38. In theory she can take part in the presidential elections and provide calm to her father in old age and her closest friends.”

Source: Elcomercio