Support The Moscow Times!

Blog of 'Putin's Daughter' Offers Glimpse of Secretive Family

Editor’s note: For readers who have not guessed, this story was our annual April Fools’ joke.

blog purportedly written by one of Vladimir Putin's daughters had the Russian blogosphere buzzing Sunday, with what some said was a rare glimpse into the secretive family life of the president-elect.

The blog was spotted by a Russian expatriate based in Seoul, who quoted extracts that he said pointed to it belonging to Yekaterina Putina, Putin's younger daughter.

The blog is written in Russian, Korean and German, wrote the expat, Vladimir Snegirov, on his LiveJournal account.

"When she is angry, she writes in German, when happy in Korean. She writes about her family only in Russian," he said.

The blog mainly describes the daily life of an expat abroad, but some entries, Snegirov wrote, clearly point to the writer being Putin's daughter.

"Why do I have to go to the embassy to speak to my own father?" she wrote on Feb. 12, adding, "And what's the point of a secure line when he doesn't tell me anything anyway?"

Putin has zealously guarded his family from media attention, and little is known about his two daughters, Yekaterina, 25, and Maria, 26.

A Korean newspaper reported in 2010 that Yekaterina had married the son of a Korean admiral and was now living in Seoul, although the Kremlin later denied the report.

No photos of Putin's daughters as adults have ever been published. One of the few photos that have surfaced shows the two daughters as teenagers but only from behind.

The writer of the blog, Seoulsister, which was deleted as of April 1, did not give her name. But an online cache of various posts suggested that she was in her mid-20s, Russian, recently married and sometimes had a tense relationship with her father.

"Sometimes I think I have disappeared, that I only exist as the girl with her head turned round," she wrote earlier this year. "I remember how we used to brush our hair forward, put on sunglasses and bump around the house. He didn't like that, did he?"

She follows the entry by posting a YouTube video of Madonna singing "Papa Don't Preach." It's a video she has posted five times in the last six months.

There is little mention of politics in the blog, but some opposition activists, perhaps a bit too eagerly, are taking to an entry on Dec. 24 where she says, "I think I may wear white today," as showing her backing of a mass rally that took place on Prospekt Akademika Sakharova, where people wore white ribbons.

A number of experts dismissed the possibility that the blog might have been linked to Putin but said the absence of information about Putin's family was the problem and that there would be more such speculation in the future.

"People are jumping on the smallest piece of information and then blowing it up," said Sergei Markov, a former State Duma deputy with United Russia.

The Kremlin refused to answer questions about the blog, saying it did not comment on Putin's family.

The last entry in the blog was dated March 4, the day of the presidential election that saw Putin claim victory and later shed tears at a rally. The blogger writes, "He cried at my wedding too. Or was that the wind?"

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more