Russian propaganda seeks to convince ordinary Russians that Russia is surrounded by immoral enemies of which United States and countries of European Union are the worst. In December 2012 President Putin even signed a law that bans citizens of the United States from adopting Russian orphans. Paradoxically the children of most members of Russian political elite, including Putin himself, live in United States or countries of European Union.
Information about personal life of Putin’s family is protected in Russia as a top military secret. Only one unique photo of Putin with his daughter and his now ex-wife appeared in the Internet in 2008.
Vladimir Putin, his daughter Maria and his wife in 2008
Putin has two daughters: Maria and Catherine, born in 1985 and 1986 respectively. Maria was born in Leningrad, Catherine – in Dresden, where young Putin worked as a KGB agent. Putin’s daughters’ life is a mystery and unspoken taboo in Russia. While Putin himself in his characteristic manner keeps lying that his daughters are in Moscow, some of the real information still can be found. Both Putin’s daughters speak German fluently. In the early 90s, after his returning from Germany to Leningrad, Putin immediately sent his daughters back to Germany, where he placed them in the prestigious Peterschule school. Later they were transferred into the school in the German “embassy village” in Moscow. According to rumors Russian President had been speaking with his daughters at home only in German.
In the early 2000s, the girls studied at St. Petersburg University: Maria studied biology, Catherine – orientology. Both girls had personal professors at home and visited the university very rarely. As rumors reported, after graduation they moved to Germany.
Yu Jung Won and Catherine Putin in 2014
Putin’s younger daughter Catherine lived in the city of Munich. In October 2010 it was reported that she was going to marry a Korean, Yu Jung Won, a son of a South Korean admiral.
There were reports that Putin was against Catherine’s choice, however, after the meeting with the parents of the groom, he gave his consent to the wedding. The grand wedding was held at a hotel in Morocco in 2013. However later, the Yu Jung Won said in an interview with a Korean television station that he broke up with Catherine and now they are just friends.
In April 2013, Dutch media reported that Putin’s eldest daughter Maria lived in Netherlands, in the town of Voorschoten, near Hague. She lived with the 33-year-old boyfriend, a Dutchman Jorrit Joost Faassen. The newspapers even mentioned a specific area of the couple’s residence – Krimwijk Heet. It was reported that they occupied the penthouse in a luxury building. It also was reported that in 2009 and 2011 Maria Putin has bought three houses in her favorite Voorschoten.
In July 2014, after the disaster of the Malaysian Boeing over Ukraine, the media reported that Maria Putin left the Netherlands. It is unknown where is she now.
In December 2010, Putin was asked why he holds the lives of his daughters in secret. Putin answered:
You know, unfortunately, we have a lot of problems related to terrorism, and we just have to think about the safety of family members, including, above all, children, daughters. I do not consider it necessary to drag them into the public social scene, and they do not want it”.
Sergei Lavrov and his daughter Catherine
Catherine Lavrov, the only daughter of Russian Foreign Minister, reportedly has difficulty in communicating in Russian. Catherine was born in New York, where her father worked in the Soviet permanent representation at the UN. She finished a New York high school. After Sergei Lavrov was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2004, he and his wife returned to Russia, while Catherine stayed in New York to graduate from Columbia University. She spent outside Russia more then 2/3 of her life. More than 20 years she has lived in the United States, then she moved to Britain and only she appeared in Russia in recent years. Obviously the Russian Foreign minister decided that having his daughter living abroad today looks improper. Now Catherine, who was never previously interested in the arts, is a co-director of the Russian branch of the Christie’s auction house.
Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev has a son Ilya Medvedev. At the moment he is studying in Russia, but in a public interview, he said that he will continue training at the Massachusetts University in USA.
Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev with his son
Putin and Dmitry Kozak
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak is known as a close ally of Vladimir Putin, having worked with him in the St. Petersburg city administration during the 1990s and later becoming one of the key figures in Putin’s presidential team. Kozak was one of the several members of Putin’s circle touted in the media as a possible candidate to succeed Putin as President in 2008.
Alexey Kozak, the eldest son of Dmitri Kozak has been living abroad for at least six years. He is engaged in the construction business. He is a co-owner of several foreign companies: “Red”, “McBride” and “Una”. At the same time he works in the Russian governmental VTB Group.
Dmitry Kozak’s younger son Alexander worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in Credit Suisse Bank from October 2009 to July 2012 (2 years 10 months).
Alexander Kozak
Last year, the German and the United States authorities accused the Swiss bank of helping its elite clients to evade taxes. The bank pleaded guilty and paid a total of $2.6 billion to the US federal government and New York financial regulators as part of the settlement. Attorney General Eric Holder said that from 2009 to 2012 the bank was “engaged in an extensive and wide-ranging conspiracy to help U.S. taxpayers evade taxes.”
In 2007 24-year-old Petr Zhukov, the son of another Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandr Zhukov, being a student in London, has admitted taking part in a vodka and beer-fuelled brawl that left a City banker Ben Ramsey needing 25 stitches to his face.
Petr Zhukov
Petr Zhukov said he repeatedly punched the clearly injured man even though his friend had already hit him a number of times. The event became a sensation in British press. What happened to Petr after this widely publicized fight is unknown.
The three daughters of the vice-speaker of the State Duma Sergei Zheleznyak study abroad. Catherine studies in the elite Swiss school (tuition is 2.4 million Rubles at the rate of 2013). Anastasia is a student in the London University (tuition is 630 thousand Rubles per year). The youngest, Lisa, too, lives in London. Interestingly, Zhelezniak declared income of 3.5 million Rubles per year and pays 11 million Rubles per year for the education of his children. All this had not prevented Zheleznyak from making “patriotic” disclosures to the State Duma Committee on Parliamentary Ethics in March 2013. He “exposed” a trip to US of a democratically oriented member of Duma Dmitry Gudkov, who participated in the conference held in the building of the US Senate.
Olga, a daughter of Sergei Andrienko, the deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, the head of the faction of the ruling party “United Russia”, got her education in Germany. There she lives on the proceeds of a controlling stake in Karelian company producing crushed stone – LLC “Bear Mountain”.
Stepan Remezkov, the eldest son of a State Duma member from the faction “United Russia” Alexander Remezkov, recently completed studying to become a NATO officer! He graduated from the Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, United States (academic year is 1.3 million Rubles at the rate of 2013). Then Stepan have enrolled in a private Hofstra University, New York. Nicolai, the middle son of Alexander Remezkov, is studying in the UK Malvern College. Masha, the youngest daughter of Remezkov lives in Vienna. Masha Remezkov represented the Austrian national team (not Russian!) in junior competition in Ljubljana.
Anastasia, a daughter of the Duma member Vyacheslav Fetisov, the former first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy, has grown and got her education in the United States. She never learned to read and write in Russian.
Children and grandchildren of the head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin live outside the country – in England and Switzerland. His son Andrew lived for many years in London. Currently he is working in Russia as an investor of the British firm. Since 2009, Yakunin, Jr. is a co-owner and the head of UK registered company Venture Investments & Yield Management, which is engaged in development projects in St. Petersburg. Andrei Yakunin also owns a lot of hotels in Russia, including Moscow’s Marriott Courtyard, built on the territory adjacent to Paveletskaya Railroad Station. Currently, he resides at his home in London, bought in 2007 for 4.5 million pounds. This house is cleverly registered to a Panamanian offshore. Yakunin’s other son, Victor, lives in Switzerland, where he owns real estate. Grandchildren of the head of Russian Railways also are studying in the most prestigious schools of the West.
Anna, the daughter of Alexei Vorontsov, a representative of the Communist Party in Duma, lives in Italy. She moved there from Germany, where she previously lived and studied. Now she finishes University of Milan. In Russia Vorontsov vehemently denounces the West, at the same time paying hundreds of thousands of Euros for training his daughter in Milan.
Pauline Rakhov, the daughter of Elena Rakhov, a State Duma member from the faction “United Russia” and one of the most active demanders of the annexing of Crimea, lives in New York.
Eugenia; the daughter of the ex-speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov, one of the founders of the party “United Russia”and now a member of the Security Council; lives in Tallinn. And she does not just live over there, but received Estonian citizenship.
Alexander Fursenko, a son of Assistant to the President, ex-Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko ,resides in the United States.
The family of Nikolai Valuev, the former professional boxer, a member of State Duma from the faction “United Russia”, his wife, parents and children live almost permanently in his house in Spain. Periodically, they live in Germany.
Nikolai Valuev
The election leaflets of State Duma reprehensive of Communist Party Alexander Yakunin’s states about his family: “My daughter goes to school, my wife is a successful economist, my son is a student of Institute of Physical Education … We love to get together for tea.” Yakunin didn’t mention in the leaflets in what country the family gets together for the tea. But his wife Julia indicated in social networks that she lives in Nice, French Riviera. Also she loves to be photographed in Nice and in her boat. Yakunin’s daughter lives with her mother and indicates in a network, that their main language is English. Yakunin’s son Michael lives in Ontario, Canada.
The family of Oleg Sorokin, a member of Presidium of the Political Council of “United Russia”, the Mayor of Nizhny Novgorod and the publisher of the newspaper “Patriots of Nizhny”, lives, not in Nizhniny Novgprod, but also in French Riviera. His wife Ellada Nagornaya has two luxury villas in Cote d’Azur. The villas are undeclared in Russia. And Sorokin bought in France three firms intended for the purchase of rights to real estate.
Pavel Astakhov, Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation, was a supporter of the ban for adoption of Russian children by foreigners, although there were 665,987 orphans in Russia.
Pavel Astakhov
Anton, the eldest son of Astakhov had studied at Oxford and the New York School of Economics. And his youngest child was born in a rented villa in Cannes.
Yelena Mizulina was a member of the Russian Parliament between 1995 and 2003 and again since 2007. She was one of the main forces behind the set of controversial laws concerning limiting of the rights of the LGBT community in Russia and the adoption of Russian orphan children by foreigners.
Yelena Mizulina
She is currently the Chairman of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs. She is considered the main fighter for the Russian traditional Orthodox values. Her son Nicolai, whom she sent to study to Oxford, now lives in Belgium, violently criticized by Mizulina as a decadent country, where gay marriages are allowed. There he works in a large law firm Mayer Brown.
Another active supporter of the ban for foreign adoption of Russian orphans was Vyacheslav Nikonov, grandson of Molotov, chairman of the Education Committee of the State Duma, the dean of the Faculty of Public Administration of Moscow State University, President of the “Politics”, “Unity for Russia”, the Chief Editor of the “Strategy of Russia”.
Vyacheslav Nikonov
Not long ago Vyacheslav Nikonov shocked Russians by his declaration that Russian children must be taught about “the Great Russian Aryan Race.”
He said: “It is always necessary to remember in which country you live and work and to know its traditions. Our Fatherland has a great past. A branch of the Aryan tribes descended from the Carpathian mountains and peaceably settled the Great Russian lowlands and Siberia … reached the Pacific Ocean, founded Fort Ross [in what is now the state of California], contributed to the greatest cultures of Byzantium, Europe, and Asia, and defeated the most horrific enemy of humanity, Nazism.”
Vyacheslav Nikonov’s son – Aleksey Nikonov, is a US citizen.
