MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is fiercely protective of his private life, said yesterday that his two daughters — who had reportedly lived abroad with their foreign partners — now live in Moscow.
In a rare glimpse into the Russian ruler’s notoriously secretive family life, Putin told the TASS news agency he tries to meet his daughters Maria, 29, nicknamed Masha, and Yekaterina, 28, known as Katya, every month.
“I have a packed work schedule. Even my daughters I only see once or twice a month, and then I need to pick my moment,” Putin said in an unusually frank interview.
Asked what country his daughters live in, the former KGB officer said: “In Russia, where else?”
“Of course, they live in Moscow. We meet at home,” Putin added.
Maria was forced to flee her home in the Netherlands after a missile allegedly supplied by Moscow downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine killing 298 people, mostly Dutch nationals, according to unconfirmed reports this summer.
The mayor of the Dutch city of Hilversum, which lost several inhabitants in the July 17 crash, called for her to be deported before retracting his “unwise” comments.
Ukrainian activists even published photos and the address of her alleged “luxury apartment”, urging people to protest outside.
Yekaterina was reportedly set to marry the son of a South Korean general in 2010 but the rumour was denied by Putin’s spokesman. Putin is never officially photographed with his daughters and most Russians do not know what they look like.
AFP
