The European Union (EU) and the U.S. on Tuesday began readying sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin's two daughters in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. officers mentioned that the Biden administration is predicted to announce the sanctions this week, Bloomberg reported.

Putin nearly by no means speaks publicly about his household life however he has two daughters from his marriage to former spouse Lyudmila Putina, in accordance with the Kremlin. The EU and U.S. are weighing up sanctioning Maria Vorontsova, 37, and Katerina Tikhonova, 35.

It isn't recognized whether or not the president has different youngsters, however some stories counsel he might have not less than one different from an affair.

In 2020, TASS, Russia's state information company, mentioned that Putin doesn't discuss his private life "as a matter of safety and a want to stay nameless for his family members to allow them to stay a standard life."

Nonetheless, it turned public when in 2013 Putin divorced former Aeroflot flight attendant Putina. Their oldest daughter, Maria, is believed to have been born in 1985 in Leningrad, town now generally known as St. Petersburg. Katerina was born a yr later when the household was based mostly in Germany when Putin was working as a overseas intelligence officer for the KGB.

Though Putin has by no means talked about their names in public, Katerina has spoken to the press a number of occasions.

She has been recognized because the deputy director for the Institute for Mathematical Analysis of Complicated Programs at Moscow State College, which offers with synthetic intelligence, The Washington Put up reported. She can also be a former acrobatic dancer and has a ardour for acrobatic rock 'n' roll.

On March 14, French police detained a pro-Ukraine activist that broke right into a €4.5 million ($4.9m) villa on the Biarritz seafront that's utilized by Tikhonova. Pierre Haffner, the activist, led a gaggle of anti-war protesters into the property.

Vorontsova is extra secretive however she is believed to be a pediatric endocrinologist. In March, she separated from Jorrit Faassen, her Dutch businessman husband, in accordance with exiled Russian journalist Sergey Kanev. Kanev is the previous editor of The Insider, an investigative outlet that stories on the Kremlin.

Vorontsova studied biology at Saint Petersburg State College and graduated in drugs from Moscow State College in 2011, the New York Occasions reported.

She co-owns a healthcare funding undertaking the place she hopes to assemble a state-of-the-art medical middle close to St. Petersburg, in accordance with Kanev.

The deliberate sanctions are half of a bigger spherical of measures in opposition to high-profile Russians—together with oligarchs, politicians and propagandists and their households—and should be accepted by all 27 EU members earlier than they'll cross.

Newsweek contacted the Kremlin for remark in regards to the sanctions plans.

They arrive after disturbing stories emerged over the weekend of Russian troops allegedly slaughtering Ukrainian civilians in city areas outdoors Kyiv which have been re-taken by Ukrainian forces.

After visiting town of Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned his nation has "conclusive proof" that Russia dedicated a bloodbath there, killing dozens of civilians.

Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova
The EU and U.S. are weighing up sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin's two publicly acknowledged daughters, Maria Vorontsova, 37, (left) and Katerina Tikhonova, 35 (proper).Youtube