Who is Svetlana Krivonogikh? Vladimir Putin's ex cleaner-turned-millionaire is allegedly his teen lovechild's mom
Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly has a secret teenage daughter, whose mother is a housekeeper-turned-millionaire, a Russian investigative site has reported. The teen, believed to be 17-years-old, has been identified by the site as Yelizaveta Vladimirovna and is reported to be born out of a years-long affair between Putin and Svetlana Krivonogikh. The website, Proekt, also reported that Putin and Svetlana began their affair in the late nineties when the latter was a cleaner and the Russian strongman was married and heading the Federal Security Service at the time. He later divorced in the early 2000s, after Yelizaveta was born, reports state. Putin is said to have fathered Elizaveta during his first term as president.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, after the emergence of the fresh reports, denied all knowledge of Svetlana and her daughter. Peskov, later in a statement to journalists on Thursday, November 26, said: "I actually looked at the material myself. Well, let’s say this, it’s unconvincing. This, I would say, is an epistolary genre. I’m inclined to probably attribute this to such materials, that are so, you know, provocative and yellow, nothing more. This doesn’t look like serious material. These, of course, are absolutely some kind of allegations, in fact they’re unfounded, de facto they are all unfounded. It’s clear that new materials will appear and so on, we know this, and there is nothing special about it. And nothing here deserves any kind of comment." Putin, however, did not react to the report.
Proekt, in its report, suggested that Svetlana was born in St Petersburg in 1975 and grew up in a modest apartment amid neighbors who had connections to organized crime. She later worked as a cleaning lady in the late 90s at a store near her family home while she was studying at the University of Economics and Finance in the Department of International Economic Relations. Svetlana received her diploma in 2000 and moved into her new home on the Kamenny Islands with her mother. The site reported that the apartments on the island are generally occupied by those who are close to Putin and are not for general sale. The site reported that Svetlana, at the same time, is believed to have come into ownership of valuable stock options and had no benefactor listed on public records. One of her biggest stock holdings, however, is in Bank Rossiya, which has links to Putin and his allies.
Nearly three years after her move to the island, Svetlana reportedly gave birth to daughter Yelizaveta, who does not have a father listed on her birth certificate. The website, in its report, states that the only potential identified is the child's middle name, which is generally derived from the father's name. For Yelizaveta, it's Vladimirovna. Sources close to Svetlana reportedly told the site that her mystery benefactor is Putin and that their relationship began in the nineties and concluded in the early 2000s. The circumstances of how the pair met or separated are not clear.
Svetlana, however, continues to live in her house in St Petersburg along with other properties in Sochi and Moscow, which are worth an estimated total of $11 million. She is also believed to own a majority stake in the Igora Ski Resort, which is one of Putin's favorite haunts. Their alleged daughter, Yelizaveta, reportedly uses a fake surname and has multiple media profiles under that name.