Who are Katerina and Maria, Putin’s daughters sanctioned by US, UK?

The United Kingdom on Friday joined the United States in sanctioning 

Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s daughters, Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, in response to Ukraine’s invasion.

 “Our unprecedented package of sanctions is hitting the elite and their families, while degrading the Russian economy on a scale Russia hasn’t seen since the fall of the Soviet Union,” UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

Apart from Putin’s daughter, the US also targetted Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin; the wife and children of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; and members of Russia’s Security Council, including Dmitry Medvedev, a former president, and prime minister.

The US is also toughening penalties against Russian banks.

“Today we’re dramatically escalating the financial shock by imposing full blocking sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alfa Bank,” a senior administration official briefing reporters said.

The penalties cut off all of Putin’s close family members from the US financial system and freeze any assets they hold in the United States.

Also Read: Will Russia use nuclear weapons in war with Ukraine: Explained

Who are Vladimir Putin’s daughters Katerina Tikhonova, Maria Vorontsova?

Maria Vorontsova, 37, and Katerina Tikhonova, 35, are the Russian president’s daughters from his marriage to former wife Lyudmila Putina.

Maria was reportedly born in 1985 in St. Petersburg. Katerina was born the following year. The family was based in Germany at the time of Katerina’s birth Putin was working as a foreign intelligence officer for the Russian secret agency KGB.

In 2013, Putin divorced Putina, who is a former Aeroflot flight attendant.

Maria studied biology at Saint Petersburg State University and graduated from Moscow State University in 2011. She is believed to be a pediatric endocrinologist.

Maria separated from Jorrit Faassen, her Dutch businessman husband, last month. 

Katerina, on the other hand, is reportedly the deputy director for the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University. She is also a former acrobatic dancer. Not much is known about her personal life.