"Putin's biggest secret" is taking a leisurely stroll through Germany
Putin is known to treat information about his family as if it were a state secret, to the extent that he has never publicly mentioned the names of his children.
Friday, 02.09.2022.
11:52
"Putin's biggest secret" is taking a leisurely stroll through Germany
Still, it is known that he has two daughters from his marriage with his ex-wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya. They are 35-year-old Katerina Tikhonova and 37-year-old Maria Vorontsova, who in April were on the list of American and European sanctions aimed at Putin's family and close associates.On that occasion, Tikhonova was described by the White House as a technology director whose work is supported by the Russian government and the defense industry. In 2013, she married Kirill Shamalov, the son of a longtime friend of Putin's, who was also sanctioned by the US in 2018 for his role in the Russian energy sector.
The U.S. Treasury Department said that "his wealth increased dramatically after his marriage." The couple reportedly divorced in 2017.
According to Western media, Tikhonova heads the Institute for Innovation and Intellectual Development at Moscow State University. After the divorce, she allegedly ended up in a relationship with Igor Zelensky (53), a Russian ballet dancer and theater director who lives in Germany, where he led the Bavarian State Ballet until March of this year, from where he had to leave after he refused to publicly condemn Putin's aggression on Ukraine, writes Index.hr.
The German newspaper Spiegel carried out a thorough investigation and confirmed that in the last few years, Tikhonova herself regularly visited Bavaria accompanied by bodyguards, without the German authorities even knowing about it. Moreover, a "superior double room" was reserved for her in one of Munich's most exclusive hotels, the Mandarin Oriental.
According to that and other passenger data, copies of passports and internal e-mails of the Russian security apparatus they obtained, Tikhonova traveled to Germany more than 20 times in the past few years - without German officials noticing. In doing so, she was always accompanied by bodyguards - almost certainly armed, according to experts - from the Federal Security Service (FSO), which is normally in charge of the security of the Russian president and other high-ranking officials.
However, the frequent trips of Putin's daughter and her entourage raise significant diplomatic and security issues, according to Spiegel. Contrary to common international practice, the Russians did not feel it necessary to inform the German government of the arrivals of Tikhonova and her bodyguards. This is not only a breach of etiquette, but shows how little regard the Kremlin has for the German authorities.
It is also alarming that the German intelligence services knew practically none of the series of trips by Putin's daughter and her entourage to Germany. The short-sightedness of the German intelligence service is in line with the bigger picture, Spiegel criticized, because for many years hardly anyone in Germany showed much interest in the investments and other business activities of influential Russians, which are usually considered their private business.
Now the consequences of that indifference are becoming clear. The German authorities do not have a clear insight into the networks of Putin's allies in Germany, so they cannot even impose sanctions on them. In any case, Tikhonova, accompanied by her young daughter, went to the favorite destination of rich Russians eager for Bavarian hospitality - Lake Tegernsee at the foot of the Alps, south of Munich.
According to the data, they traveled there in December 2019. It is particularly interesting that Tikhonova did not even bother to cover up her trips to Munich - she flew under her real name, using an EU visa issued by Italy with the number ITA031963667.
The cost of her escorted stay in Bavarian hotels from 2018 to 2020 is estimated at around 50.000 euros, not including around 300 air flights. And apart from Bavaria, Putin's daughter, according to flight and hotel reservations, also traveled to Granada, Milan, London, Bologna and Kitzbühel.
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