Vladimir Putin is extremely secretive about his own family.
The dictator has never openly confirmed the identity of any of his children. "My daughters live in Russia and only study in Russia. I am proud of them. They speak three foreign languages fluently. I never discuss my family with anyone," Putin said in 2015.
Indirect criticism of father Putin
Although Putin himself does not want to name his daughters, others have managed to identify them.
The eldest, 38-year-old Maria Vorontsova, has been subject to American sanctions, for instance.
Now, she is in the spotlight again.
The reason is a very remarkable statement in which Vorontsova openly directs indirect criticism at her own father, reports the English-language The Moscow Times.
Established under the dictator
Maria Vorontsova studies medicine and has what can be described as a Russian equivalent to a Western doctoral degree.
This week, she was appointed to the board of the Moscow Society of Medical Genetics, according to the independent Mozhem Obyasnit.
The channel has noted that in her role within the medical organization, she criticizes a number of patient care laws in Russia – laws enacted under Putin as the highest authority.
A YouTube video has revealed the 38-year-old criticizing the fact that doctors are exempted from certain legal obligations.
"It's a crude tool. I understand it as a patient. After all, the patient receives a stack of papers that one signs without even understanding the details," she says, according to Moscow Times.
EU sanctions
The EU, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Japan have also imposed sanctions on Maria Vorontsova following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to the EU, she was on the list as she was a co-owner of the company Nomenko.
"A company involved in Russia's largest private investment project in healthcare," writes the Moscow newspaper.
Betrayed by Own Daughter
The younger daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, has also been sanctioned by the West.
However, according to reports from the German Der Spiegel, she has lived a Western and free life and was for many years a frequent visitor to Munich.
In this German freedom, she socialized with her boyfriend Igor Zelensky, who between 2017 and 2019 was responsible for the Bavarian state ballet.
This despite Putin calling such a lifestyle a "betrayal".
"People who by their nature are there, and not here, are not with our people, not with Russia," the dictator said at a press conference last year.
It is not known where Putin's daughters are today.
