Dutch Ex-Husband Of Putin's Daughter Maria Feels 'Trapped' In Russia And Fears Going Home: Report

The ex-husband of Russian President Vladimir Putin's eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova, a construction engineer named Jorrit Faassen, has reportedly not returned to his homeland in 16 years and feels "trapped" in Russia.

An investigative report by Current Time and Meduza quoted a source within Putin’s inner circle who claimed Faassen feared going back to the Netherlands given the animosity there toward the Kremlin and Putin.

“If Faassen returns to Europe, he will definitely not feel at ease there. He has fallen into Putin’s inner circle, articles are being written about him, journalists are calling him and his relatives, so it is impossible for him to return to the Netherlands," the person told the news outlets.

The joint investigation also revealed a Moscow address reportedly belonging to Faassen. This address was used to buy a plot in an Amsterdam suburb, which hogged the limelight in March after anti-war posters and messages addressed to Maria Vorontsova sprung up there.

Jorrit Faassen is no longer with Maria Vorontsova, but the couple did live in a suburban penthouse condominium complex in the Netherlands, according to the report quoting Dutch publications. It added that Maria and Faassen held a wedding reception at a castle in The Hague in 2008. Witnesses who attended the event were quoted saying: "The bride's parents were not there, but her younger sister was."

The report also quoted a person acquainted with Putin’s inner circle that Faassen and Maria spent several months of each year in the Netherlands until July 2014, when Russia-backed separatists shot down a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, carrying 198 Dutch citizens, flying over eastern Ukraine.

The separatists reportedly shot down the aircraft using a Russian-delivered anti-aircraft missile. The trial in the Netherlands revealed forensic evidence pointing to the involvement of the Russian military in the incident.

After that, Putin allegedly insisted that his daughter and grandson live full-time in Russia. "Faassen was not ready for such a life, but there was no choice," the anonymous source told the news outlet.

Faassen had earlier denied being married to Putin's daughter, stating such "rumors" were "absolutely wrong." However, he said he did marry a Russian woman. "I am married to a Russian woman. We have children," he told a Dutch website Follow The Money.

However, a database of e-mails, reportedly stolen by hackers and uploaded to a hacker forum, surfaced in 2020. Among them were e-mails from Maria’s younger sister Yekaterina Tikhonova's then-husband Kirill Shamalov to Faassen. While one mail had a copy of an airline ticket to Amsterdam in May 2011, another showed an invitation from Shamalov to Faassen to the wedding that Shamalov and Tikhonova held in 2013.

A list of wedding guests also shows the names of Jorrit Faassen and Maria Vorontsova. Current Time and Meduza also uncovered evidence hinting that Faassen and Maria had a son, who would be Vladimir Putin’s grandson. However, there is no evidence of a marriage certificate in Russia for the couple.

In 2017, Maria went on to have a child with a Russian man named Yevgeny Nagorny.