Russian President Vladimir Putin’s typically elusive daughters, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, are coming out of hiding after years of eluding the public eye.
This week, the sisters spoke at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a summit in Russia some refer to as Russia’s Davos, in a sign that Putin may be looking to familial ties to shore up his power in Moscow.
Vorontsova, 39, a genetics researcher, spoke on a panel covering innovation and biotechnology, according to the agenda. Tikhonova, 37, a tech executive and former acrobatic dancer, was part of a panel discussing the ins and outs of the Russian defense industry and financing its growth.
ADVERTISEMENT
The women were invited to speak on the premise of sharing insights and tips about their professions, but in reality, the whole show is about boosting Putin’s image, according to Ronald Marks, a former CIA clandestine service officer who worked in the U.S. intelligence community for 38 years.
“Remember it's Putin world and we just live in it,” Marks told The Daily Beast. “That's an extension of him… his desire to recreate the Russian empire, his desire to show himself as the most powerful guy in Russia. Young daughters represent vitality for him.”
Putin has historically been secretive about his children and very rarely refers to them. But the splashy appearance of the daughter duo could be a signal that the Russian president, now in his fifth term and turning 72 this year, is looking toward his legacy—and is willing to lean into family ties to bolster it.
“He’s considering his mortality,” Marks said.
In Russia, family and power have been intertwined for decades, so the shift should come as no surprise, he added.
“He’s getting to be at that age right now where he's now looking for his legacy. And both of those kids to my understanding are pretty sharp,” Marks told The Daily Beast. “If those daughters can step out front and center and represent him, I think he’ll take advantage of it.”
The public affair represents a test of his daughters’ PR acumen, but it’s “an easy forum” for the women to take on, Marks said.
“This is his hometown in St. Petersburg… they’re going to be well taken care of.”
Katerina Tikhonova, deputy director of the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University, daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, takes part in a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia June 4, 2021.
Evgenia Novozhenina/ReutersAlready, Putin has set them up with friends in high places. The moderator of Vorontsova’s panel was slated to be Andrey Fursenko, Putin’s assistant. Tikhonova’s panel was moderated by Vladimir Solovyov, a Russian propagandist described by U.S. officials as a “shill” for Kremlin policies.
Although Putin has been reticent to speak of his children for the past several decades, it’s not the first time they’ve been in the limelight. The United States has previously sanctioned both daughters after exposing the ways in which Putin’s regime is rooted in nepotism.
“We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members and that's why we're targeting them,” a senior Biden administration official said at the time, referring to the sanctions.
Tikhonova’s work in particular helps boost Russia’s defense industry, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Vorontsova’s has led state-backed programs that Putin has personally overseen, and which have received billions of dollars in funding from the Kremlin.
Vorontsova and Tikhonova have made some rare appearances on state television—but Vorontsova, in particular, seems to have taken on a slightly more vocal role promoting Putin’s regime in recent months.
In December, the researcher gave an interview with Medtech.Moscow arguing that Russia is “a human-centric society,” according to Agentsvo.
Vorontsova has also long been a supporter of Russia and her father’s worldview on Crimea, Ukraine and the West, even in private messages. In one instance—in Telegram messages obtained by Dmitry Kolezev, the editor-in-chief of the website Republic—she compared Russians to Jews and other vulnerable groups that Germany persecuted in the buildup to the Holocaust.
“We’re not the Germans in the 30s. If anything, we’re more like those they targeted,” Vorontsova’s message read, according to the leak.
Among other pro-Kremlin talking points, the genetics researcher has previously argued that “annexation” is not the correct term to describe Russia’s illegal land grab in Crimea 10 years ago, made unfounded claims about U.S. bioweapons in Ukraine, and complained that the United States never gets sanctioned.
While Putin’s daughters will almost certainly cause a state-backed stir at the acclaimed SPIEF, other Kremlin cronies are deploying their families at the event as well. Former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s daughter, Kremlin Chief of Staff Anton Vaino’s son, and the son of Russian oligarch Boris Rotenberg were also listed on the summit’s agenda, Bloomberg first reported.
