Putin's children: who are the women in his secret, private life?

Called 'the favourite wife of Putin', Alina Kabaeva is under fire from the citizens in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They want to see her expelled from her hiding place in Switzerland after a petition has reached over 63,000 signatures, according to the Daily Mail.

She has reportedly been hiding out in a luxury Swiss chalet, but the people will stand for it no longer after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 'It's time you reunite Eva Braun with her Führer,' the strongly-worded petition said.

The petition tells the Swiss: 'For the first time in modern history, your country has violated its neutrality, which it did not even do vis-à-vis Nazi Germany in the 20th century, and joined the sanctions against Putin and his surroundings. And now you are allowing his favourite mistress and her children to hide within the borders of your state.'

The petition speaks of 'children,' but Putin has never officially recognised any of his offspring. So, does he even have children?

Although Vladimir Putin has never actually publicly acknowledged having any children, media like The Daily Mail consider it common knowledge that he shares two daughters with his ex-wife.

Maria Faassen is Putin's first child and the eldest daughter of two shared with his ex-wife, Lyudmila Putina. She is now 36 years old and her parents got divorced in 2013. They were married for 30 years.

Maria - born Maria Vladimirovna Putina and also known as Maria Vorontsova - is named after Putin's mother, Maria Ivanovna Shelomova, as reported by the Daily Mail.

Maria is a young scientist. She studied medicine at Moscow State University and then became an endocrinologist. Bloomberg claims she is also her father’s trusted advisor in genetic engineering, arguing that human DNA editing should be prohibited in the private sector and confined to state-run facilities.

That’s right, the Russian president is a grandfather. Maria married Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen and they have a child together.

Maria, her husband and child lived in the Netherlands until controversy caused her to leave. According to the New York Post, the couple became very uncomfortable in The Netherlands after flight MH17 was shot out of the sky over Ukraine in 2014. According to international reconstructions of the attack, it was Maria's father who "provided the missile that shot 193 of their countrymen out of the sky over Ukraine," the Post states.

Katerina Tikhonova was actually born Yekaterina Vladimirovna Putina. She later changed her name to use the surname Shkrebneva - the same as her maternal grandmother, the Daily Mail reports.

Putin's reported second child was born in 1986. Although she attended the same schools as her sister Maria, she took a completely different path, the Daily Mail reports. Now in her thirties, Katerina is a director for the institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University.

Surprisingly, however, it seems she is better known for her success as a rock ’n roll dancer.

Katerina has been the vice president for expansion and marketing at the World Rock and Roll Confederation, the Daily Mail reports. The organisation is in charge of the international competitions in the discipline.

Now 18 years old, Luiza Rozova (AKA Elizaveta Krivonogikh) is believed to be Putin’s third child, the Daily Mail reports. She has never been formally acknowledged by the Russian President, however.

(Photo: Instagram @Luizaroz_)

Luiza’s mother, Svetlana Krivonogikh, has never claimed that Putin was the father of her daughter, despite the many rumours. Neither has Putin. However, it is interesting to note that Krivonogikh worked as a cleaning lady and then became a multi-millionaire and one of the country’s wealthiest women within a remarkably short period of time, per the Daily Mail.

(Photo: Putin in his younger years, in 1970)

Luiza had a fantastic Instagram following (84,000 followers), mainly due to to the fame of her ‘secret’ father and her stashes of cash. But that all changed, according to Metro, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started. She has now shut down her account after being heavily trolled in the wake of the war.

(Photo: Instagram @Luizaroz_)

Luiza mainly posted about being on fancy trips and also about her fashion label. The 18-year-old student, who - according to Metro - was living in Vladimir Putin’s hometown of St Petersburg, took social media break when the backlash over the Russian invasion started.

(Photo: Instagram @Luizaroz_)

Some have defended her publicly on Instagram, saying that "she cannot do anything for having a crazy father." Others have made more personal attacks, saying that "she stays quiet because she knows if she says one bad word to Daddy, she will be cut off from big money, apartments and expensive things."

The comments and photo are from her Instagram account: @Luizaroz_

The Daily Mail reports that the president allegedly has even more children than the three women mentioned here. Rozova may not be his youngest daughter at all.

The Daily Mail elaborates stating that Putin reportedly had a relationship with "Russia’s most flexible woman," the athlete Alina Kabaeva. There was a lot of controversy about their alleged relationship at the time.

The Olympic gymnast and the Russian president were pictured many times together and had been associated for many years. The Daily Mail writes that Kabaeva once "spoke of a mystery man who she said she 'loves very much.'"

Alina was, quite obviously, pregnant in 2015. The Daily Mail writes that many speculated she was bearing Putin’s child.

Despite her fame as a gymnast, Alina hasn’t been seen in the public eye for the past few years, Metro reports. The paper adds that Putin's suspected mistress is "hiding out in a luxury Swiss chalet."

The Washington Post writes that, in 2015, Putin said his daughters “are not involved in business or politics.”
“My daughters live in Russia and studied only in Russia. I am proud of them,” he said. “They speak three foreign languages fluently. I never discuss my family with anyone.”