Two academics who speak several European languages and lived in Dresden for a few years as children. Not much more is known regarding the two daughters of Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin, because the ruler largely hides his private life from the public. But now Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova are in the spotlight worldwide because the EU wants to put them on its sanctions list because of Putin’s Ukraine war.
From the point of view of the USA, too, the Putin subsidiaries are suitable sanction targets. The White House announced punitive measures once morest the two sisters on Wednesday. After all, Putin hides his wealth “with his family members,” said a high-ranking government official in Washington.
According to the US Treasury Department, Tikhonova is a tech manager who supports the Russian defense industry. The older sister, Vorontsova, heads a gene research program that is funded by the Russian state and “personally supervised by Putin.”
According to some Russian media, Maria Vorontsova is an endocrinologist who works at a medical research center focused on research into cancer therapies and has ties to the Russian state. According to some reports, Vorontsova is a co-owner of the research institute.
Tikhonova is reportedly a mathematician who heads a science and technology foundation that has ties to the country’s largest state university. It is said to be an institute for artificial intelligence at the Moscow State University.
In addition, according to Russian media, Tikhonova has already participated in several international competitions as a professional acrobatic rock and roll dancer. Videos from the tournaments show Tikhonova in glittering costumes. She lets her partner catapult her into the air and catches her once more following spectacular spins.
Years ago, at a press conference, Putin said of his daughters that he was “proud of them.” “They continue to study and work,” he said, adding that his daughters are “not involved in any business affairs” and are not “active in politics”.
In 2020, Putin made it clear in an interview that he did not want to comment on his family because of “security problems”. At the same time, however, he let the public know that he was a grandfather. However, the ruler did not name the number of his grandchildren. “I have grandchildren, I’m happy,” he said. “They are very good, so nice. I like spending time with them.”
At a press conference in 2019, Putin was asked directly regarding his daughters’ growing influence and their connections to state institutions. However, the Russian President refused to address the question. He didn’t even say that Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova were his daughters, but simply spoke of “women”. However, this does not protect them from the sanctions of the West.
Putin spokesman ‘cannot understand’ sanctions once morest daughters
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has sharply criticized Western sanctions once morest the daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It’s something that’s difficult to understand and explain,” he said Thursday, according to the Russian agency Interfax. The West is thus continuing its “aggressive line” of introducing more and more new restrictions once morest Russia, he said. Peskov announced a corresponding reaction from Moscow.
Peskov also said that the new US law on arms sales to Ukraine will have a “negative effect”. “Filling Ukraine with weapons in various formats will not help the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations to succeed,” he said.
Negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow to end the war began on February 28 – four days following the start of the Russian invasion. Moscow formulated the “denazification and demilitarization” of Ukraine and its refusal to join NATO as conditions for an end to hostilities. In addition, Kyiv should recognize the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, as Russian territory and the separatist regimes of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent. Kyiv largely rejects these demands.
