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Vladimir Putin’s secret daughter, Luiza Rozova, 22, appeared to apologise about her father’s bloody war when confronted by a Ukrainian journalist in Paris.
Journalist Dmytro Sviatnenko – whose brother Volodymyr was killed in a Putin missile strike in November – spoke to her while in the European capital, where she now lives.
Luiza, real name Elizaveta Krivonogikh, was born during a Putin extra-marital affair with cleaner-turned-multi-millionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, now 50, now banker and striptease club owner.
Sviatnenko told Luiza: ‘Three weeks ago, your father killed my brother. Say something! Do you support his policies?’
She said the journalist wasn’t allowed to film her, before Sviatnenko pointed out that Kyiv was without power and under an air raid alert at the moment, adding: ‘We didn’t give our permission for this either.
‘How do you feel about your father’s policies? Do you support him? Do you support him?’
She replied: ‘What does that have to do with me?’
Sviatnenko suggested calling Putin and telling him to stop the attacks, which Luiza appeared to brush aside. Sviatnenko then invited her to Kyiv, offering to buy a plane ticket for her.
‘Only it won’t fly to Kyiv [because the airport has been closed for almost four years],’ he said.
She replied: ‘Unfortunately, I can’t help you. I’m very sorry.’
Finally, Luiza expresses regret over her father’s attacks on innocent people in Ukraine.
‘I think I’ve already talked to you enough. I’m really sorry that this is happening. Unfortunately, I’m not responsible for this situation,’ she said.
‘I’m glad you had the courage to come up to me and talk. Have a good evening.’
Luiza uses the family name Rudnova – the surname of a close Putin friend – in France, where she’s lived for a few years.
There is evidence she has expressed fears previously about potential ‘consequences’ if she were to make a public stand against her father.
It’s unclear how much contact she’s had with her father as she grew up. He has not acknowledged her or denied that he is her father, but the mainstream Russian media is banned from mentioning her.
Earlier this year, she broke her silence on Telegram, writing about a man who ‘took millions of lives and destroyed mine’, seemingly slamming her father for his war in Ukraine.
‘It’s liberating to be able to show my face to the world again. It reminds me of who I am and who destroyed my life,’ she said.
‘It is inadmissible to allow a person who comes from a family of beneficiaries of the regime to come into confrontation with the victims of that regime. Am I really responsible for the activities of my family, who can’t even hear me?’
An estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people have died in Ukraine since Russia launched its illegal war in February 2022.
Who is Luiza Rozova’s mum?
Luiza’s mum, Svetlana, was romantically linked to Putin in the late nineties and early noughties.
Svetlana started life as a cleaner before working her way up to becoming one of the country’s wealthiest women.
The 45-year-old millionaire attended the Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance.
In 2021, Svetlana’s name – and more crucially, her overseas assets – became more widely known in connection with the Pandora Papers.
Putin’s relationship to Svetlana supposedly ended around when he was first linked to Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
What other children does Putin have?
Putin shares two daughters with ex-wife Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Ocheretnaya – 36-year-old Maria Faassen and 35-year-old Katerina Tikhonova.
Maria went to a Moscow medical school and became a pediatric endocrinologist and then one of Russia’s top experts on dwarfism.
She has one child with her husband, Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen.
Meanwhile, Katerina is a director for the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University.
But she is more widely known in Russia for her success as a dancer.
For several years, she also served as the vice president for expansion and marketing at the World Rock and Roll Confederation.
There has also been public speculation that Putin shares children with a Russian Olympian mistress, whom he has hidden away in Switzerland as the war continues.
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