Vladimir Putin’s reported daughters make rare appearance at Russian business summit
- The Russian president keeps details of his family secret and has never confirmed Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova are his children
Vladimir Putin’s two alleged daughters both made rare public appearances this week at a flagship economic forum in the Russian president’s home city of St Petersburg.
Putin keeps details of his family life fiercely secret and has never publicly confirmed that the two women – Maria Vorontsova, 39, and Katerina Tikhonova, 37 – are his daughters.
But the pair have been widely linked to Putin through various media reports and in 2022, the US Treasury sanctioned both as “daughters of Russian President Putin”.
On Thursday and Friday they appeared on panels at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia’s flagship annual business summit where Putin will make a major speech later on Friday.
Tikhonova, a technology executive who works in areas connected to the Russian military, spoke Thursday on a panel about the role of the defence sector in boosting Russia’s “technological sovereignty”.
“The sovereignty of the state is one of the key topics of recent years, it is the basis of Russia’s security,” Tikhonova said in her opening remarks, delivered via video link.