Marriage of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s eldest daughter has reportedly collapsed
The marriage of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s glamorous eldest daughter is apparently over as her father’s invasion of Ukraine rages on.
The marriage of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s eldest daughter has reportedly collapsed as her father’s invasion of Ukraine rages on.
Glamorous Dr Maria Vorontsova, 36, who was born when the Russian president was a KGB spy, is an expert in rare genetic diseases in children – and the war in Ukraine has also “devastated” her hopes of opening “a money-spinning elite medical centre” for super-rich foreigners in Russia.
Exiled Russian investigative journalist Sergey Kanev said that Mr Putin “did a rotten job for his elder daughter” by triggering massive Western sanctions because of the war with Ukraine.
He revealed: “She has a big share in the mega-project for the construction of a super modern medical centre near St Petersburg.
“The plans were to attract patients from Europe and rich sheiks from the Persian Gulf countries.
“And now, after the attack on Ukraine, what kind of Europeans and sheiks will come?”
Exiled editor Roman Dobrokhotov, of The Insider, an investigative outlet banned for its investigations of alleged Kremlin corruption, posted on Mr Kanev’s social media that Dr Vorontsova had now split from her Dutch businessman husband Jorrit Faassen.
He did not give further details of when they parted, but it is believed to have been before the war started.
The couple have children together, making Mr Putin a grandfather.
But he has never acknowledged the identities or work of his adult offspring, let alone given details of their private lives.
Mr Faassen is known to have worked long-term in Russia at Gazprombank-Invest and Stroytransgaz.
His father is believed to have been a Colonel in the Dutch armed forces.
Mr Putin’s Dutch son-in-law once said: “I am married to a Russian woman and have children, I will leave it at that.”
Maria uses the family names Vorontsova – her grandmother’s surname – and Faassen.
She is a leading researcher at the National Medical Research Centre for Endocrinology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.
She was last year interviewed on the Rossiya 24 channel on Russian efforts to combat rare genetic diseases in children, without it being revealed she was Mr Putin’s daughter.
She explained that “nothing is a panacea” but that “genetic testing can help, for example, in the preconception stage” to “determine if parents are carriers of an unwanted gene”.
She said: “Genetic testing can help at the stage of preimplantation diagnosis with IVF, can help parents choose a healthy embryo.
“This is relevant for parents who have already had a child with a rare disease, genetically inherited.
“To me this is a very positive project, very correct.”
She is also an expert on dwarfism, according to reports.
Her divorced sister Katerina Tikonova, 35, deputy director of the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University, is likewise from Mr Putin’s former marriage to ex-Kremlin first lady Lyudmila.
Their half sister is Luiza Rozova, a 18-year-old heiress also known as Elizaveta Krivonogikh, from a previous relationship with cleaner-turned-multi-millionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45, now a part-owner of a major Russian bank.
Mr Putin was once told by a BBC Russia reporter that it was an “open secret” that Maria and Katerina were his children, but declined to confirm them as his daughters.
Speculation that he has a family with rhythmic gymnast turned media mogul Alina Kabaeva, 38, have been met with official denials, but the rumours persist.
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Mr Putin has previously said: “I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.”
He deplored “those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives”.
Kabaeva is on record as saying she had met a man who “I love very much”, gushing: “Sometimes you feel so happy that you even feel scared.”
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