Remember when Putin's eldest daughter spoke to the press?
In January 2024, the world was surprised when Russian President Vladimir Putin's eldest daughter decided to speak to the press. This was a highly unusual event and naturally, she fell in line with her father and spoke about Russia as a nation always puts people first.
The rare conversation took place on December 16, 2023, but was picked up by the Moscow Times and the investigative news website Agentstvo in January.
According to a report by German newspaper Der Spiegel, in the interview with Medtech.Moscow, a non-profit organization affiliated with the Moscow Mayor's Office, Maria Vorontsova emphasized that for her the highest value lies in human life.
The unexpected public appearance of Maria Vorontsova, the eldest daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has caused quite a stir among the international public.
There is a particular fascination surrounding this situation because President Putin has never officially confirmed that Maria and her younger sister, Katerina Tikhonova, are his daughters. The Kremlin maintains secrecy about all aspects of her private life.
During the interview, Vorontsova emphasized the importance of human life as the highest value, without referring to her father or the Russian war in Ukraine.
She emphasized that Russia is a people-oriented society. In addition to these statements, she spoke at length about global advances in medicine and shared insights into her literary, musical and sporting interests.
The connection between Vorontsova and Putin was not mentioned in the conversation by Medtech.Moscow CEO Vyacheslav Shulenin and the interviewer.
It is important to note that Maria Vorontsova and her sister Katerina Tikhonova were placed on EU, UK and US sanctions lists following the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Their assets were frozen, and Putin has never publicly confirmed that they are his daughters.
In 2016, the independent Russian magazine The New Times published a comprehensive report on Maria Vorontsova's profession, her exclusive lifestyle and her marriage to Jorrit Faassen, a Dutch citizen who previously held a high-ranking position at Gazprom.
Interestingly, the couple's divorce was announced in 2022, fueling further speculation about the Putin family.
Maria Vorontsova can point to impressive academic success, having completed her studies in biology and medicine with top grades. She is currently one of the leading researchers at the Endocrinological Research Institute pertaining to the Russian Ministry of Health.
In 2019, she founded the company "Nomeko", which runs a research clinic in Saint Petersburg and specializes in studying the genome of the Russian population. The aim is to identify genetic vulnerabilities and research treatment options.
This unusual interview by Maria Vorontsova caused a stir outside Russia because she is not normally present in public and Putin usually keeps his private life very private.
The conversation was shared on VKontakte, a Russian social media platform, where it received almost 225,000 views, while on YouTube, it only received a few thousand views and is currently hard to find.