During his presidency, Russia's Vladimir Putin rarely spoke about his two daughters, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova. However, both may face sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict between the two countries.
On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that US officials may announce new sanctions on Russia, including sanctions aimed at their daughters.
During a press conference on Tuesday, the White House press secretary declined to confirm that the US was planning to sanction Putin's daughters, but said the new sanctions would be "for Russian government officials, their families". members of the Bloomberg also reported that the EU was planning to approve Putin's daughters, citing unnamed sources.
Reports of the new sanctions come shortly after Ukrainian officials accused Russian military soldiers of committing war crimes in Buka and other cities around Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
While Putin has been secretive about his personal and family life during his presidency, he has mentioned his daughters on a few occasions.
In 2015, Putin held a press conference where reporters asked him about his daughters.
"They are taking the first steps in their careers, but making good progress. They are not involved in business or politics," Putin told Reuters in 2015. "They've never been the 'star' kids, they've never found happiness from the spotlight directed at them. They just live their lives."
Putin continued, "They live in Russia ... I am proud of them, they continue to study and work. My daughters speak three European languages fluently."
According to Reuters, Putin said he did not want to share any further information about his daughters for security reasons.
Director Oliver Stone also conducted several interviews with Putin for a Showtime special, titled The Putin Interview, which was released in 2017.
"He has his own family life," Putin says in part of the interview.
Putin also confirmed that he was a grandfather, but added that he plays with his grandson "very rarely, unfortunately."
"They are not in politics and they are not in corporate business. They are in science and education," Putin said when asked about his daughters. "I am so proud of them."
Vorontsova, 37, and Tikhonova, 35, are from Putin's previous marriage with Lyudmila Putina. In 2013, Putin announced that his marriage with Putin had ended, saying at the time that "it was a joint decision," the BBC reported.
According to the BBC, in 2013 Putin said, "We hardly see each other, each of us has our own life."
The Russian state-run news outlet, TASS, reported in 2020 that Putin keeps details of his personal life out of the public "as a matter of safety".
Ever since Russia announced a special military operation in Ukraine on 24 February, the war between the two countries has continued. US And dozens of Western countries continue to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as impose a number of sanctions on the Russian economy.