Since Vladimir Putin began cementing his grip on Russia, many of his friends have grown infamously rich.

All except the president himself, say his supporters, who insist Putin is above the money grab that has marked his reign. His public financial disclosures depict a man of modest means. In April, Putin declared his 2014 income as 7.65m roubles (£78,000), listing ownership of two modest apartments and a share in a car parking garage.

But other members of his family are not living so frugally. Though the president has been very protective of his private life, a new investigation reveals just how well-connected and powerful his children – who seldom appear in the media – really are.

His younger daughter, Katerina, has largely escaped public attention since her father became president in 2000. But in January this year, a Russian blogger reported that she was active at Moscow State University and had taken the surname Tikhonova, after her grandmother, Yekaterina Tikhonovna Shkrebneva.

Examining Tikhonova’s business deals, properties and oligarch connections builds a picture of a new generation of Russia’s ruling elite, and a rare insight into the family life of Russia’s most powerful man.



Comrade capitalism

After unconfirmed media speculation, this week Reuters reported that a senior Russian business figure who knew Katerina Tikhonova said she was indeed Putin’s daughter. The news agency said that two senior academics – one at Moscow State University and a scientist with close contacts there – also confirmed her relationship to Putin.

Tikhonova, 29, has described herself as the “spouse” of Kirill Shamalov, son of Nikolai Shamalov, a long-time friend of the president. Shamalov senior is a shareholder in Bank Rossiya, which US officials have described as the personal bank of the Russian elite.

If they are husband and wife, Shamalov and Tikhonova would have corporate holdings worth about $2bn, according to estimates provided to Reuters by financial analysts. That wealth stems mainly from a large publicly disclosed stake in a major gas and petrochemical company that Shamalov acquired from Gennady Timchenko, a business associate of Putin’s.

Also among the young couple’s holdings is a seaside villa in Biarritz, France, estimated to be worth about $3.7m. That asset, too, was acquired by Shamalov from Timchenko, a commodities trader who has known the president since the 1990s.

Kirill Shamalov speaks during an interview in Moscowon 29 July. Photograph: Stringer/Russia/Reuters

Reuters asked the Kremlin whether Tikhonova was indeed Putin’s daughter, and whether she is married to Shamalov. Dmitry Peskov, the government press secretary, replied: “We have no information whatsoever about the personal life, family connection, marital status, academic activities, involvement in particular projects and family tree of Ms Tikhonova, or about other individuals mentioned in your letter.

“In recent years there has been an enormous quantity of gossip on the subject of the family ties of V Putin, and, in particular, his daughters. The proportion of accurate information in all these publications is laughably small.”

Tikhonova and Shamalov declined to comment for this article. Asked about the Biarritz home, a spokesman for Timchenko said he would not comment on personal matters.

The ‘princelings’ of Russia

Tikhonova and Shamalov are among a new generation of Russians enjoying a rapid rise in the wake of their well-connected parents. The phenomenon bears similarities to the “princelings” of China – the children and grandchildren of Communist Party leaders who have gone on to gain positions of power and amass great wealth.

Children don’t just inherit their parents’ posts, but also the right to choose any other post they fancy Alexei Navalny

Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist and former member of Putin’s United Russia political party, claimed that a “new aristocracy” was emerging in politics and state companies, with a second generation inheriting the status of the current circle around Putin. “Many in society think they haven’t worked for it, and they question who these people really are,” she said.

Among other children of the Putin circle with growing influence are: Boris Kovalchuk, son of Yuri Kovalchuk, the largest shareholder of Bank Rossiya and a close Putin associate; Gleb Frank, son of former transport minister Sergei Frank and son-in-law of commodity billionaire Timchenko; and Igor Rotenberg, son of the billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, Putin’s former judo partner.

Russian president Vladimir Putin in Paris. Photograph: Sergei Chirikov/EPA

In an interview, Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, described what he called a “neo-feudal system” that threatens to dominate state offices and big business.

“Today in Russia, it is absolutely normal that the boards of directors at state banks are headed by children of security service officials, who aren’t even 30 years old when they are appointed,” he said. “It is more than just a dynastic succession.

“Children don’t just inherit their parents’ posts, but also the right to choose any other post they fancy. The danger is that very soon all key resources will end up in the hands of five to seven families.”

A talented researcher

Tikhonova holds a successful academic post running publicly funded projects at Moscow State University, and helps direct a $1.7bn plan to expand its campus. Her official advisers at Moscow State University include five members of Putin’s inner circle – including two former KGB officers who served with her father in the 1980s when he was deployed to Dresden, in former East Germany.

According to the university’s website, she is currently attached to the mechanics and mathematics faculty. She is listed as an author, along with other academics, of a chapter in a maths textbook and at least six scientific papers since 2011. The papers include studies on medicines and space travel; one is listed as a study of how the human body reacts to zero gravity.

Most of the papers were co-authored with the university rector, Viktor Sadovnichy. He did not respond directly to requests for comment, but the university issued a statement.

It said Tikhonova had proved to be a “talented researcher” who had “reported results of her research at scientific seminars and conferences many times.” The statement added: “We do not have information about the private life of employees.”



Outside the main building of Moscow State University, where Tikhonova holds a senior position. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters

Tikhonova is also the director of two initiatives connected to the university, the National Intellectual Development Foundation and the National Intellectual Reserve Centre.

Under the umbrella of both organisations, a project called Innopraktika was set up, also headed by Tikhonova, which sponsors and supports young scientists.



Innopraktika has a raft of advisers and partners who are close to Putin, including Sergei Chemezov and Nikolai Tokarev, two of the president’s former KGB associates during his days as a spy in Dresden, and who lived in the same apartment block as the future leader and his young family.

Chemezov is now the head of state-owned technology giant Rostec, and Tokarev is head of state-owned Transneft, a gas pipeline company. Tokarev did not respond to a request for comment, but Chemezov’s company said in a statement that Rostec assists in the state’s development of industry, and that Chemezov’s involvement with the project was therefore “natural and logical.”

Also among the trustees of Innopraktika, according to its website, are Igor Sechin, head of the state oil company Rosneft. Rosneft and Sechin declined to comment.

Rock’n’roll acrobatics

Tikhonova is also active beyond the university. Under her grandmother’s name, 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.

Today, she is chairman of two organising committees of the All-Russian Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll Federation, according to its website. The Federation’s sponsors include Sibur, Novatek and Gazprombank – companies that are co-owned or co-controlled by friends and associates of the president. These people include Timchenko; Kirill Shamalov; and his elder brother, Yury. The same companies are also mentioned on Innopraktika’s website as among its corporate partners.

A spokesman for Sibur said: “As for sponsoring the [Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll] Federation – the motives are the same as in partnerships with other types of sport. At different times Sibur has supported the Russian basketball federation, Formula One team, many Russian hockey and football teams and many others.”

The spokesman said Sibur provided advice but not money to Innopraktika, and had long collaborated with Moscow State University. Novatek did not respond to requests for comment.

Kirill Shamalov

The young Shamalov has a valuable property in France, an elegant house on Avenue du General Mac Croskey in Biarritz which covers about 300 square metres inside and comes with 2,000 square metres of garden. Built in the 1950s, it is now worth about 3.5m euros ($3.7m), according to Pierre Fourreau, an architect who renovated the property seven years ago. People living near the Biarritz house say they have not seen the young couple there.



Public records show the property was previously owned by Timchenko, who has known Putin since the leader’s days as deputy mayor in St Petersburg in the 1990s. While Putin went on to become president, Timchenko co-created Gunvor, a company that traded Russian oil, and became a multi-billionaire.

A view of the house that belongs to Kirill Shamalov in Biarritz, south-western France. Photograph: Regis Duvignau/Reuters

Sibur recorded revenues of 361bn roubles ($5.6bn) and net profit of 25bn roubles in 2014. Last year it began a project with America’s NBA to develop basketball in Russia.

Shamalov’s current 21% stake in Sibur is worth about $2bn, possibly more, according to estimates by three financial analysts.

In comparison to this rising generation, ​​Putin remains a man of the middle class – according to his asset declaration

In an interview with Kommersant in August, Shamalov said he had acquired the stake at a market price and had borrowed money to buy it, but did not specify how much. When Reuters asked about the stake, a spokeswoman for Shamalov declined to comment.

A spokesman for Sibur said: “According to corporate rules, we do not comment on the personal lives of our managers and members of the board of directors.”

A spokesman for Timchenko declined to comment on the Biarritz house. He said Timchenko’s sales of shares to Shamalov were “monetary transactions, made at market prices.”

In comparison to this rising young Russian generation, Putin remains a man of the middle class, according to his asset declaration. As well as his salary, he declared the ownership of one apartment in Moscow and another in St Petersburg, but no property abroad.

The president’s spokesman has repeatedly denied that a luxurious estate built on the Black Sea and popularly known as “Putin’s palace” was intended for the Russian president. As Reuters reported last year, the mansion was partly funded by Nikolai Shamalov – father of Kirill, the man who the president’s daughter has described as her spouse.

A version of this article was first published by Reuters Investigates