Thursday 19 May 2022 08:58 AM Putin's daughter Katerina revealed to be in a relationship with a ballet star ... trends now
Vladimir Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova has a lover called Zelensky - the same name as the Ukrainian president - according to reports.
Sanctions against the 35-year-old - imposed over her father's invasion of Ukraine - have stopped her regular flights from Moscow to Munich to live with her new man, during which she would be accompanied by Russian secret services guards.
Her new partner - with whom she has a two-year-old daughter - is Igor Zelensky, 52, a leading professional ballet dancer and top director who until recently headed the Bavarian State Ballet.
The revelation comes from an investigation by Russian independent news outlet IStories and Germany's Der Spiegel.
Previously Katerina Tikhonova, the younger Putin's two daughters from his marriage to ex-Kremlin first lady Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Ocheretnaya, was wed to Russia's youngest billionaire Kirill Shamalov, 40.
Vladimir Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova (pictured left), 35, has a lover called Zelensky - the same name as the Ukrainian president - according to reports. Pictured right: Igor Zelensky, 52, who is a leading professional ballet dancer and top director
Pictured: Russian president Vladimir Putin is seen with his first family with wife Liudmila and daughters Ekaterina (in Putin's arms) and Maria (by mother's side)
They split around 2017 when she started the relationship with the ballet star who was also previously married and has two daughters and a son with choreographer Yana Serebryakova.
Putin has raged against Russians who live their lives in the West - despite his own daughter making frequent trips to Munich with full state support and security to spend time with her boyfriend. Until earlier this year and the war in Ukraine, it appears she was living with him in Germany.
The Stories report said: 'For two years, from 2017 to 2019, the little girl's mother had to fly this route — from Moscow to Munich and back — many dozens of times.
'She lived in Russia, and her daughter's father lived in Germany, where he directed the Bavarian State Ballet. His name is Igor Zelensky.'
The journalistic investigation found documents proving flights involving 'Tikhonova, Zelensky, a child, nannies, security guards'. It revealed that over a two year period 'she flew to Munich, where Zelensky worked, more than 50 times.'
From an anonymous source, the outlet obtained 'documents from the e-mail of the Security Service of the President and Tikhonova's personal security guard Alexei Skripchak'.
'In Skripchak's documents there are passports of Putin's daughter, Zelensky and a girl born in 2017. Tikhonova's security guard bought them all tickets.
'We do not disclose the child's name for ethical reasons, it is enough just to say that her patronymic is Igorevna, which corresponds to Zelensky's name,' the report said.
Zelensky - who was Russian born with Georgian roots and not believed to be related to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky - quit the Bavarian State Ballet last month, apparently after refusing to condemn Putin's bloody war in Ukraine.
Igor Zelensky quit the Bavarian State Ballet last month, apparently after refusing to condemn Putin's bloody war in Ukraine
Pictured: Ekaterina Tikhonova, believed to be the daughter of Russian president Vladimir Putin with his ex-wife Putin's 'secret' daughter Ekaterina Tikhonova performing at Rock'n'Roll Acrobatics World Cup, Krakow, in April 2014
The report said that a Der Spiegel source at the Bavarian Ballet, when asked about his former head, immediately replied that Zelensky was 'most likely the partner of Putin's daughter' even before they had asked about his family ties.
'By the end of 2019, Katerina Tikhonova apparently got tired of constantly flying to Munich, and she decided to move in with her partner.' Said the report.
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