MOSCOW — A nearly 20-year taboo on reporting in the Russian news media about President Vladimir V. Putin’s personal life has unraveled — just a little — with an interview broadcast on state television with a woman who has been described as his daughter.

The interview suggested some softening of Mr. Putin’s steely image and the prospect that his two adult daughters may be easing into public life.

Russia has no enduring tradition of a public first family, and Soviet and post-Soviet leaders have taken various approaches. Mr. Putin, a former spy, has mostly kept his daughters out of sight.

He has occasionally spoken with affection of his daughters, and last year announced that he was a grandfather. Still, throughout his tenure Mr. Putin has insisted that his family life remain private — even as state television has lavished coverage on his leisure time spent alone in the Siberian outdoors, hiking or horseback riding, sometimes shirtless.