President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has dismissed Dutch media reports that Putin's daughter lives with her boyfriend in a Dutch village and that Putin had planned to visit them during his visit to the Netherlands this week.
"This information is not true," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the reports that Putin might divert from his itinerary and make a stop in Voorschoten, according to Interfax.
Pressed later on Dozhd television on whether Putin's elder daughter, Maria, did indeed live with Dutch boyfriend Jorrit Faassen in the village in the western province of South Holland, Peskov said of the media leak that "it's fake."
The Leidsch Dagblad and De Telegraaf newspapers reported Monday that Maria Putina and Jorrit Faassen live in a penthouse apartment in the tallest residential building in the village and that Putin might stop by to see them.
Putin flew back to Moscow late Monday after a quick stop in Amsterdam following a two-day visit to Germany.
Putin has kept a veil of privacy over the whereabouts and activities of his two daughters, Maria, 27, and Yekaterina, 26. He said at a news conference in December that they were both living and studying in Moscow. "Everything's good, both in their personal and professional lives," he said at the time.
Maria Putina has been romantically linked to Faassen, 33, in the past. Faassen, who studied architecture at The Hague University, has served as a senior executive at Gazprom and Stroitransgaz, which constructs oil and gas pipelines. He made the headlines in 2010 when he was attacked by the guards of Russian banker Matvei Urin during a traffic argument in Moscow. He won a subsequent lawsuit against the banker.
The Dutch newspapers said Monday that neighbors did not want to discuss Putin's daughter on the record. "There are some things that it is better not to know," a neighbor was quoted as saying.
But another said Putin had visited the village previously and that he had seen him shopping in the village's Albert Heijn supermarket, accompanied by a bevy of bodyguards. "He was quite small," the neighbor said.
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