Who Are Putin’s Daughters? EU Looking To Sanction Them

The European Union is considering sanctioning two of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughters over the invasion of Ukraine and the Bucha killings.

Putin shares his daughters - Katerina Tikhonova, 35, and Maria Vorontsova, 36, - with his first wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva. Little is known about them.

Vorontsova is believed to be the co-owner of a company involved in building an oncology center in Russia. In 2015, Reuters reported that Vorontsova graduated from Moscow State University’s Fundamental Medicine Department. The report said that she was planning to make a career in endocrinology. Some reports from Russian and Western media said Vorontsova married a Dutch businessman named Jorrit Joost Faasen.

Tiknohova is believed to be heading the Innopraktika foundation near Moscow State University. The organization is a conglomerate of the university’s National Intellectual Reserve Center. Tiknohova was also reportedly appointed as the leader of Moscow university’s artificial intelligence institute which was slated to open in 2020, according to the Russian publication Vedomosti.

Putin has never officially confirmed nor denied the identity of his two daughters. The Russian government has also refused to release photographs of his two daughters as adults.

It is unclear what sanctions the EU will impose upon Putin’s daughters. The sanctions could be an attempt to garner the Russian president’s attention as the two daughters aren’t believed to be holding a large number of assets outside of Russia.

The EU’s list will also include the names of dozens of Russian individuals, political figures, tycoons and propagandists. The sanctions would only be applied once the EU receives approval from all 27 members, according to Bloomberg.

The proposed list comes after the EU on Tuesday announced a phased plan of banning Russian coal imports in response to reports that retreating Russian soldiers massacred Ukrainian civilians in Bucha.

Satellite images taken of the Ukrainian city showed the bodies of Ukrainian civilians with hands bound, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture. Ukraine has accused Russia of war crimes after the discovery.

Another video shared on social media showed a Russian tank opening fire on a local man who was riding his bicycle. The incident happened on March 3.

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied accusations that its soldiers killed Ukrainian civilians. The ministry accused Ukraine of staging new civilian deaths for the Western media.