Moscow, Europe Brief News – The Russian President Vladimir Putin has kept his family affairs as private as possible despite being in the public eye for decades.
Putin has worked on preventing the media from knowing much about his personal life.
Putin married Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Ocheretnaya from 1983 to 2014.
Lyudmila was a flight attendant for the Kaliningrad branch of Aeroflot. She met Putin in Leningrad and they married in July of 1983.
The couple made their divorce public on Russian state television after attending a ballet performance. “It was a joint decision: we hardly see each other, each of us has our own life,” Putin said.
Putin’s daughters
Vladimir Putin has two daughters with Lyudmila. He has never publicly acknowledged his children, though media outlets have reported about the two daughters Putin had with his ex-wife.
There are also unconfirmed reports that he may have had another daughter in 2015 with former Russian rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva. Neither the child nor the relationship with Kabaeva have been confirmed.
His daughter’s names are Maria and Katerina. Maria, the eldest, was born in Leningrad in 1985, and Katerina was born in Germany in 1986 when the family lived there during her father’s time in the KGB.
Maria studied biology in college and went to medical school in Moscow, while Katerina majored in Asian Studies in college. Both girls attended university under false identities.
Media Blackout
No official pictures of Putin’s kids exist, and for good reason: The subject of Putin’s family is considered dangerous for Russian journalists. Even when a media outlet gets someone to speak on the record, the subject often retracts his original statement.
Sometimes the consequences are more serious. In 2008, a Russian newspaper reported that Putin was divorcing his wife for an Olympic rhythmic gymnast. Within hours of publishing the story, the entire paper folded, citing financial and editorial differences.
Putin’s tightly-guarded personal life gives us a window into just how much control Russia holds over its press.
