Russian President Vladimir Putin is famously secretive about his personal life.
Putin has long tried to shield his personal life from the spotlight.
He has rarely publicly acknowledged his children, though media outlets have for years reported that he has two daughters with his ex-wife.
Putin is also rumored to have had relationships that may have produced other, secret children, including two boys by one mistress and a girl from a later rumored affair.
Putin’s family affairs are so secretive that reports of exactly how many children he may have fathered have varied over the years, as have their names.
Most recently, in November 2024, Ukrainian media reportedly tracked down one of Putin’s alleged daughters, who was living in Paris and working as a DJ.
Putin had two daughters with his first wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva, a former flight attendant
Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Business Insider
Their daughters’ names are Maria and Katerina. Maria was born in St. Petersburg in 1985, and Katerina was born in Germany in 1986.
Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek
Both girls are named after their grandmothers. Maria’s nickname is Masha, and Katerina’s nickname is Katya.
Masha and Katya are common Russian shortenings for Maria and Katerina.
Sources: Vladimir Putin, Reuters, Newsweek
When the family moved to Moscow in 1996, the girls attended a German-language school. The children were reportedly removed from school when Putin became acting president, and teachers educated them at home.
Source: Newsweek
“Not all fathers are as loving with their children as he is,” Lyudmila said in an undated quote on Putin’s government website. “And he has always spoiled them, while I was the one who had to discipline them.”
Source: Vladimir Putin
But as Putin gained political power, his children saw him less and less, according to one of his early biographers.
His first official biographer, Natalya Gevorkyan, interviewed him and his family in 1999.
The family was soon isolated and surrounded by security after Putin became prime minister for the first time, she said.
His daughters told her that they admired their father and were proud of him, but it appeared they didn’t get to see him much, she said.
Source: BBC Sounds
Putin’s marriage may also have been loveless. Lyudmila “was not a happy woman” and Putin wouldn’t “hold” her, his biographer said.
“I understood that [Lyudmila] was not a happy woman. She was not,” the biographer Gevorkyan said, speaking of her interviews conducted in 1999.
Gevorkyan said she had the impression Putin did not love her. She recalled Lyudmila as saying: “There are women who are admired by men, I think I am not that kind of woman. He will not hold me in his hands.”
Gevorkyan said Lyudmila’s tone was “more with respect” to her husband.
“I had the feeling that she really loved him,” she added. “And I had a feeling that she was not that much loved back. I didn’t have the feeling that it was a successful marriage for her.”
Source: BBC Sounds
Putin and Lyudmila announced their divorce in 2013, although they were likely living separate lives long before that.
Lyudmila had become “almost invisible” in Putin’s public life, according to Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at New York’s New School.
Putin was rumored to be seeing Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, while Luydmila was believed to have begun dating businessman and triathlete Arthur Ocheretny by around 2010.
Sources: BBC, Proekt, Politico.
Meanwhile, the daughters were growing up. Maria studied biology before medical school, while Katerina majored in Asian Studies in college. Both girls attended university under false identities.
There are no official current photos of the women. For Katerina, we found the slightly varying first names of “Katerina,” “Katya,” and “Yekaterina,” and the last names “Putina,” “Tikhonova,” and “Shamalov.”
Maria is a medical researcher. According to reports, she married Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen, although it’s unclear exactly when.
Maria appears to have a lower public profile than Katerina. Here, she is seen presenting at a 2022 pediatrics conference.
An investigation found that between 2019 and 2022, she earned $10.7 million from her role at New Medical Company (NOMEKO).
Sources: Current Time, Reuters, Newsweek, Bloomberg
Maria and Faassen reportedly have a child — Putin told filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2017 that he was a grandfather. When Stone asked if he played with his grandchild, Putin replied: “Very seldom, unfortunately.”
Sources: Reuters, The Independent, Bloomberg, Daily Mail
Katerina, an accomplished acrobatic dancer, is a tech executive.
She has been reported to head up Innopraktika, one of Moscow State University’s initiatives to foster young scientists, as well as being deputy director of a mathematical institute there.
In 2022 she was given a role overseeing Russian import substitutions.
Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, The Moscow Times.
Here she is in her dancing days at the 2013 Rock ‘n’ Roll World Championship in Winterthur, Switzerland, representing Russia.
She took fifth place at that year’s final.
Source: WRRC
Katerina married Russian billionaire Kirill Shamalov in 2013, though they are reportedly no longer together. Their wedding was a lavish affair at the Igora resort in St. Petersburg.
The wedding was highly secure and included a laser show, an ice-skating display, and a mock Russian village, according to Reuters.
A 2023 investigation found that the couple, though married by a priest in an elaborate ceremony, never formalized their vows at the registry office, as required by the Russian Orthodox Church. The report suggested this was connected to the structure of the family’s vast and secretive property holdings.
By 2018, the pair had split, according to Bloomberg.
Sources: Reuters, The Guardian, Proekt
Shamalov prospered during the marriage, racking up lucrative business interests. By the time he and Katerina split in 2018, the divorce papers revealed they were worth $2 billion.
As early as 2016, the couple were hardly corresponding, and Shamalov had seen lucrative shares in energy company Sibur returned to Putin’s friends, a 2023 investigation reported.
Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Proekt
Katerina made her debut on Russian state TV as a biotechnology expert in December 2018.
Her appearance did not include comments on her being related to Putin. The link was briefly made public in the course of a dance competition, but later retracted.
Source: Business Insider, Reuters
She has at least twice joined an event known as Russia’s answer to Davos, and in 2024, Maria was also there. Both were rare appearances.
In June 2021, Katerina addressed the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — but nobody called her Putin’s daughter, apparently out of fear of reprisal from the Kremlin.
At the same event in 2024, Katerina appeared virtually, commenting on the “technological sovereignty” of the nation’s military.
The following day, Maria spoke in person on a panel about biotech innovations. Programming listed her as a member of the Russian Association for the Promotion of Science, according to CNN.
Source: CNN
In 2022, it emerged that Katerina had begun a clandestine relationship with German ballet star Igor Zelensky and had a daughter with him.
Zelensky — no relation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — has served as the director of the Bavarian State Ballet and the Munich State Ballet.
The relationship was revealed by a 2022 investigation that examined Katerina’s flight records, showing that she traveled with members of Putin’s presidential secret service.
Per the report, Katerina secretly flew to Munich more than 50 times to see Zelensky between 2017 and 2019, with their daughter in tow.
Sources: Important Stories, Der Spiegel
Meanwhile, Maria Vorontsova split with Faassen and had a child with businessman Evgeny Nagorny, independent Russian media reported.
A post shared by Barkli_rus (@barkli_rus)
Nagorny — who formerly showed an interest in opposition politics — has been flying around the world with Vorontsova since at least 2016, according to a joint investigation by Russian outlets Meduza and Current Time.
They had a child together, and Nagorny became the manager of major gas company Novatek, the outlets reported.
In 2020, per the outlets, Nagorny bought a luxury Moscow apartment in the building pictured above.
Sources: Meduza, Current Time.
There are rumors that Putin has other children with ex-girlfriend and former Russian rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
It’s unclear exactly when Putin began dating the famed gymnast, but rumors were swirling long before he and Lyudmila announced their divorce.
In a 2008 news conference in Italy, a reporter asked him about the chatter, which Putin dismissed, adding: “I always disliked people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person’s life.”
Reports have varied over the years on what children they have, with tabloid reports of the birth of a daughter in 2015.
More recently, however, an investigation reported that they have two sons.
Neither the relationship nor the reported children have been confirmed by Russia.
Source: New York Post, Proekt, NPR
A bombshell investigation in 2024 said that Putin and Kabaeva have 2 sons who live in seclusion and extreme luxury.
The boys are named as Ivan, born in 2015, and Vladimir Jr, born in 2019.
Business Insider could not independently verify the report.
At Ivan’s birth, according to the investigation, Putin was so happy that he shouted: ‘Hurray! Finally! A boy!’
Extreme secrecy surrounds them — per the investigation, they have used “cover documents since infancy, which are mostly made for intelligence officers and people under state protection.”
Source: Dossier Center
No publicly available images exist of Ivan and Vladimir Jr.
In its investigation, the Dossier Centre declined to publish images of the boys, both of whom are still children.
The boys live at Putin’s heavily protected lakeside palace at Valdai, in western Russia, according to the report.
Source: Dossier Centre
In 2024, Ukrainian armed forces said they had flown a drone over Valdai palace, where Kabaeva and the children reportedly live.
The drone was on its way to attack a St Petersburg oil terminal as part of a spate of attacks on Russian energy facilities, Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, said.
An unnamed special services official said that it had managed to evade the extensive defenses at Valdai.
A few months later, it emerged that Russia’s armed forces had moved much-needed air defenses closer to the palace to protect it.
Source: Kyiv Independent, RBC Ukraine, Radio Liberty
Reports have also claimed that a former cleaning lady, Svetlana Krivonogikh, once had an affair with Putin and moved into one of St. Petersburg’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
Independent investigations have reported that the pair had a close friendship between the late 1990s and the end of the 2010s, which resulted in a daughter.
In that time, Krivonogikh went from a former cleaning lady to the billionaire owner of one of Putin’s favorite ski resorts.
Sources: Proekt, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
Krivonogikh’s daughter, who was born in 2003, is named Elizaveta Vladimirovna Rozova and goes by Luisa. Identity papers do not indicate a father, but her middle name means “daughter of Vladimir.” She has not confirmed any relationship.
A Proekt investigation remarked on Elizaveta’s “phenomenal resemblance” to Putin and many connections between the president and her mother. Images reportedly from her social profiles show a striking resemblance to Putin. But no relationship has been proven.
In a 2021 magazine interview, Elizaveta’s face was not depicted.
Asked about the resemblance, she agreed, but said “there are a lot of people similar to Vladimir Vladimirovich,” using an alternative, respectful name for Putin.
Sources: Proekt, Russian GQ
Elizaveta appears to have led a vibrant life as a DJ and fashion businesswoman in Moscow and Paris.
In a bizarre turn of events, Andrey Zakharov, the journalist who first reported on Elizaveta, got added to a Clubhouse chat with her in 2021.
“I live in my own bubble,” she reportedly said, adding that she doesn’t pay attention to the news.
“I watch fashion shows, I buy copies of Vogue, and I love to go to the nearby restaurant and eat tasty pasta, dishing with friends about the latest gossip and investigations.”
But at the start of the invasion of Ukraine, commenters reportedly mobbed her social media — which she then deleted.
An investigation published in 2024 reported that she went suddenly off-grid, changing her name to Elizaveta Olegovna Rudnova.
An Elizaveta Rudnova was registered to study at a private art and culture management school in Paris between 2020 and 2024, the report said.
In November 2024, Ukrainian media reportedly tracked down Rudnova, who was living in Paris and working as a DJ.
Business Insider was unable to independently verify the report.
Source: TSN, The Telegraph
In late 2020, Putin announced Russia had finalized its COVID-19 vaccine. He said he gave the shot to one of his daughters, but wouldn’t specify which one.
Sources: Business Insider, BBC, Politico
In February 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. No statement came from Katerina or Maria, but scrutiny of their families ramped up.
In March 2022, an activist broke into a property owned by Katerina’s ex-husband Kirill Shamalov in Biarritz, France, saying he was going to use it to host Ukrainian refugees.
More than a year later, as the war dragged on, Dutch authorities seized land belonging to Maria’s ex-husband Jorrit Faassen, who was under suspicion of evading sanctions.
Sources: Insider, The Insider, The Guardian
In April 2022, the US sanctioned Maria and Katerina, saying that they had “enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people.”
A White House statement said: “This action cuts them off from the US financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States.”
The UK quickly followed suit, saying it was targeting Maria and Katerina’s “lavish lifestyles.”
The announcement also contained more details about their work.
Tikhonova’s work supports Russia’s government and defense industry, while Vorontsova’s genetics research programs are personally overseen by Putin, the White House said.
Source: White House, ABC News
The US said it believed the women were hiding assets for Putin, which was its rationale for sanctioning them. The Kremlin suggested the move was anti-Russian.
“We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members and that’s why we’re targeting them,” a senior Biden administration official said, according to ABC News.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s top spokesperson, said the Kremlin found the decision “difficult to understand” and framed it as part of a “rabid” Western animosity toward Russia.
Since 2022, the list of countries that have slapped sanctions on Maria and Katerina has only grown.
The US, UK, European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have all imposed sanctions on them.
Sources: ABC News, Reuters, Associated Press, Reuters, Reuters, Japan Times, New Zealand Herald
In July 2022, as sanctions began to bite in Russia, Katerina was given a top post overseeing import substitutions.
Tikhonova was appointed to a position at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, known as RSPP.
Putin critics speculated that the shakeup at RSPP, a key Russian business lobby, was done to help bolster the country’s lagging economy, which remains heavily dependent on foreign imports and has suffered from the bevy of international sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine.
State media reporting on Tikhonova’s appointment didn’t mention her relationship to Putin.
In the summer of 2022, the US added Kabaeva to its sanctions list, citing her “close relationship” with Putin.
The US government had initially held off sanctioning Kabaeva on the basis that it would be too personal a provocation to Putin — a reservation that suggests the White House, at least, is in no doubt about their relationship.
But Kabaeva was finally sanctioned in August 2022 over her ties to the Russian government.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, US Treasury
Svetlana Krivonogikh was the last woman connected to Putin to feel the weight of sanctions.
In February 2023, the UK sanctioned Krivonogikh.
The UK government made no specific reference to a personal connection to Putin, although it did say she was one of five people “connected to Putin’s luxury residences,” including his luxury compound at Valdai.
It also said that she is “a shareholder in Bank Rossiya and the National Media Group, that consistently promotes the Russian assault in Ukraine.”
Source: UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
In early February 2023, Kabaeva made a rare speech, where she said Russia’s media is as powerful as a Kalashnikov rifle in war.
Kabaeva made the speech to the National Media Group.
Her praise of “war correspondents” came just a couple of weeks ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In March 2023, the Innopraktika Institute, headed up by Katerina, scolded Russian youth for not being patriotic enough online.
The report, which examined young people’s social media activity, likened the drop in patriotism to a hybrid special military operation waged against Russia by foreign countries — using language more associated with how Putin characterizes his own invasion of Ukraine.
Sources: The Moscow Times, Rozkomnadzor
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