Reuters reports a colleague of Katerina Tikhonova from the world of acrobatic rock‘n‘roll confirmed that she is the younger daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and then later withdrew his comments, saying he had misheard the question.
World Rock‘n‘Roll Confederation (WRRC) Vice President for Legal Affairs Manfred Mohab told Reuters in an interview on Sunday during a dance event that he knew Tikhonova through their work together on the confederation’s presidium.
When asked whether he knew Tikhonova was Putin’s daughter, he said: “Yes. I know her, yes of course.” Asked a second time, he nodded and said: “Yes.”
Mohab spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of the World Cup Rock‘n‘Roll European Championship in Moscow. Asked if Tikhonova’s personal connection to the president had been a boon for acrobatic rock‘n‘roll, he said: “Yes, of course.”
The sport is developing thanks to Russia, he said. “We have an expansion project which is working on all continents and in a lot of countries. And this is all going out from Russia.”
After the Reuters article was published on Tuesday, Mohab telephoned Reuters and said: “I can’t confirm that I know the daughter of Mr. Putin. I have nothing to do with them.”
Asked why he had earlier said Tikhonova was Putin’s daughter, Mohab said: “Believe me, it was so loud in the hall that a lot of the things I can’t understand and other things I felt that I didn’t understand right. So it’s not sure that I gave you the right answers.”
Mohab said he had problems with his hearing. “I’m sure we had some misunderstandings.”
The Kremlin and Katerina Tikhonova did not respond to requests for comment.
It is the second time in two years that Reuters has disclosed Tikhonova’s relationship to the president, citing a named source, and then been publicly challenged post publication.
In 2015, Andrey Akimov, deputy chairman of the board of directors at Russian lender Gazprombank, told Reuters that Tikhonova was Putin's daughter but later denied the statement. Reuters also confirmed her identity through two other sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
After the report, Gazprombank said Akimov was “surprised and bewildered” by the quotes attributed to him by Reuters and that he had made no such remarks.
Tikhonova, who uses a surname inherited from her grandmother, runs publicly-funded projects at Moscow State University and serves as the WRRC’s vice president for expansion and marketing.
Aged 31, she is a major player in acrobatic rock‘n‘roll, a niche dance discipline she has competed in and helps manage through senior positions at the WRRC and the Russian national federation.
Reuters says Katerina Tikhonova is married to Kirill Shamalov, the son of one of Putin's closest friends, who has since made a fortune of at least $1 billion through dealings in Russia's largest petrochemical company.
