Who is Katerina Tikhonova? How Putin's dancing daughter divorced Russia’s ‘youngest billionaire’ Kirill Shamalov
According to a report done by Russia’s iStories investigative outlet, a businessman who was married to Vladimir Putin’s daughter allegedly received an estimated $380m stake in a petrochemicals company for just $100. As reported by The Guardian, the investigation was published in collaboration with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). It used leaked emails to draw attention on the closed circle of family and associates who surround the Russian president.
According to the investigation, mentioned in The Guardian, Kirill Shamalov, the son of Putin’s longtime friend, allegedly purchased the sizeable stake in the parent company of petrochemicals giant Sibur through an offshore company. The deal was signed just months after he married Katerina Tikhonova, a scientist and university official who is reported to be Putin’s younger daughter. “It’s simple,” wrote Alexey Navalny, an opposition politician and anti-corruption activist. “Putin’s daughter gets married and the newlyweds receive the present of $380m.”
The report also said that Shamalov had purchased a 3.8 percent stake of the company valued at $10 billion, which means the market value of his shares was around a whopping $380 million. The $100 that he allegedly paid would have been 3.8 million times less than his estimated market value. According to many, the deal might have made Shamalov the youngest Russian billionaire at the age of just 32.
Reportedly, the pair had allegedly spent millions of dollars buying and furnishing elite real estate near Putin’s residence in Russia and in Biarritz, France, the emails showed. It was a life of luxury that, like Putin’s daughters, has been kept almost entirely away from public view. The emails, which were provided to the investigative journalists by an anonymous source (possibly hacked, they noted), also revealed an influential circle of young power-players from St Petersburg, who generally were the children and grandchildren of Putin and his friends and colleagues in government.
The Guardian approached Shamalov’s company, Ladoga Management, for comment. A representative took a reporter’s contact information but would not answer specific questions. Shamalov had estimated Sibur’s value at $10bn in an interview with Kommersant, bringing his share to $380m, according to his valuation. In an email, a Sibur representative confirmed to The Guardian that Shamalov had acquired shares in the company under a stock-option plan for managers but did not confirm the price. In a statement, Dmitry Konov, the head of the company’s board of directors, said: “The conditions for the sale of the shares in the deal were no different from those for a number of other managers, there were no exclusive conditions for KN Shamalov.” “The company is ready to document these circumstances with the engagement of independent experts [from outside the company],” a company statement said.
“We still refrain from commenting on such publications,” said Dmitri Peskov, a Putin spokesman, when asked about the articles. “These rumours often have nothing to do with reality.”
Who is Katerina Tikhonova?
Putin is an extremely private person when it comes to his personal life. Very little is known about his children. In 2015, Reuters did an investigation about Katerina’s identity. After there were doubts and speculations about her identity, Andrey Akimov, deputy chairman of Russian lender Gazprombank, told Reuters that he had supposedly met Katerina when she was little and more recently, and that she was Putin’s daughter. At that time, the report stated that she held a senior position at the Moscow State University, and was involved in helping direct a $1.7 billion plan to expand its campus.
The report also mentioned she has competed for years as an acrobatic rock’n’roll dancer. In 2013, she and her dancing partner came fifth in a world championship event in Switzerland. The Reuters report also mentions that Katerina has stayed away from the public eye since her father became president. In 2011, Putin told Russian television that Katerina had read Oriental studies, specializing in Japanese and history, at St. Petersburg University.
The Sun in 2018 reported Shamalov and Katerina had allegedly divorced after his alleged link with Russian socialite Zhanna Volkova. The controversy arose after she was pictured dancing with a mystery man at a Valentine's Day party. The man’s face was deliberately covered in a smiling emoji but what could be seen resembled Shamalov, according to news agency Open Media. According to the report, the couple wed in a lavish ceremony at Igora ski resort near St Petersburg and they rode in a traditional sleigh pulled by three white horses.
These remarks were made by third-person and individual organizations, MEAWW cannot confirm them independently nor does it support these claims. The respective references are linked in the article.