Family of Vladimir Putin

The Family of Vladimir Putin article concerns the ancestry, immediate family, and publicly reported relatives of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, who was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union, in 1952 and served as president of Russia from 2000 to 2008 and again from 2012 onward, with a period as prime minister between those presidencies. The family’s documented roots extend through peasant communities in the Tver region, where Putin-related and associated families are recorded from at least the seventeenth century. One early identified ancestor is Yakov Nikitin, a peasant mentioned in the 1627–1628 cadastral records for the village of Borodino in the Turginovo parish. Putin’s paternal grandfather, Spiridon Putin, was born in 1879 and worked as a cook, including service associated with senior Soviet leaders. Putin’s father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, was born in 1911. He served in the Soviet Navy before and during the Second World War, including service in a destruction battalion connected with the NKVD during the early German invasion. He was seriously wounded in 1942 and died in 1999. Putin’s mother, Maria Ivanovna Putina, née Shelomova, was born in 1911 and worked in a factory. She died in 1998. Putin’s family history is also connected to the wartime experience of Leningrad: an older brother, Albert, died in infancy, while another brother, Viktor, born in 1940, died during the siege of Leningrad in 1942 from disease and starvation. Putin’s maternal grandmother was killed by German occupying forces in the Tver region, and several maternal uncles disappeared on the Eastern Front. Vladimir Putin married Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Shkrebneva in 1983. Shkrebneva studied philology and worked as a German-language teacher. The couple had two daughters: Maria, born in 1985, and Katerina, born in 1986. The daughters were educated at schools in Saint Petersburg and Moscow and later received extensive private or home-based education for security reasons. Public biographical accounts describe them as speaking several foreign languages and having pursued interests including fitness and martial arts. Putin and Shkrebneva publicly announced their intention to divorce in June 2013; the marriage was formally annulled in April 2014. The family has maintained a highly private public profile. Official information about Putin’s relatives and descendants is limited, and reporting about alleged additional children or relationships has often relied on investigative journalism, anonymous sources, or circumstantial evidence rather than public confirmation. Claims concerning alleged children linked to Svetlana Krivonogikh and Alina Kabaeva have been widely reported, but the individuals concerned have not been publicly confirmed by Putin as his children. Accordingly, such claims should be distinguished from the documented information about his parents, marriage, and two daughters. The family is significant in public discourse because of Putin’s long tenure at the center of Russian political power, but it is not a conventional commercial organization or consumer brand.

The Putin family’s documented history reaches back several centuries in the Tver region. Genealogical and historical accounts identify peasants bearing the Putin name and related family names, including the Shelomovs, Chursanovs, Buyanovs, and Fomins, in records associated with the Tver district from at least the seventeenth century. The earliest ancestor usually identified in accounts of Vladimir Putin’s lineage is Yakov Nikitin, recorded in 1627–1628 as a peasant from Borodino, a village in the Turginovo parish. The estate was then associated with Ivan Nikitich Romanov, an uncle of Tsar Michael Fedorovich. In the modern period, the family’s best-known earlier member was Spiridon Putin, born in 1879 and deceased in 1965. He worked as a cook and is described in biographical sources as having prepared food for senior Soviet figures, including Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. His son, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, was born in 1911. He served in the Soviet submarine fleet during the early part of his military life and later served in a destruction battalion during the initial phase of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. He was subsequently transferred to the regular army and severely wounded in 1942. He survived the war and died in 1999. Vladimir Putin’s mother, Maria Ivanovna Putina, née Shelomova, was also born in 1911. She worked in a factory. The family suffered major losses during the Second World War and the siege of Leningrad. Putin’s brother Albert died as an infant, while his older brother Viktor died in 1942 after contracting diphtheria amid the siege and food shortages. Putin’s maternal grandmother was killed by German forces in the Tver region in 1941, and maternal uncles were reported missing on the Eastern Front. Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad and was the youngest surviving child of Vladimir and Maria Putin. Putin later pursued a career in law and state security, joining the KGB and subsequently working in the Federal Security Service and municipal politics in Saint Petersburg. Although those professional developments belong primarily to Putin’s biography, they transformed the family into a subject of international public interest. He became chairman of the Russian government in 1999, acting president at the end of that year, and president in 2000. After serving two presidential terms, he became prime minister before returning to the presidency in 2012. In 1983, Putin married Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Shkrebneva. Their first daughter, Maria, was born in 1985, followed by Katerina in 1986. The children spent parts of their schooling in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Because of security concerns, their public exposure was restricted and their later education was conducted largely away from ordinary public scrutiny. Biographical accounts have described their knowledge of foreign languages and participation in sports and martial arts, but much of their adult lives has remained private. Putin and Shkrebneva announced their separation and intention to divorce during a televised statement in June 2013. The divorce was formally completed in April 2014. Since then, public reporting about Putin’s family has focused heavily on alleged relationships and alleged children not acknowledged in official biographies. Investigations and media reports have associated Svetlana Krivonogikh with an alleged daughter, variously identified in reporting under different names, and have associated former gymnast and politician Alina Kabaeva with two boys widely presumed by some reports to be Putin’s sons. These claims remain matters of public reporting rather than confirmed family records. Neither Putin nor the Kremlin has publicly established those alleged parent-child relationships. The distinction between documented relatives and unconfirmed allegations is therefore central to any responsible account of the family.

• 2014

  Formal dissolution of the marriage

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  The marriage of Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Putin was formally annulled on 1 April.

• 2013

  Public announcement of divorce plans

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Putin announced that they planned to end their marriage.

• 1986

  Birth of daughter Katerina

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Katerina, the couple’s second publicly acknowledged daughter, was born.

• 1985

  Birth of daughter Maria

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Maria, the first publicly acknowledged daughter of Vladimir and Lyudmila Putin, was born.

• 1983

  Marriage of Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Shkrebneva

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Vladimir Putin married Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Shkrebneva, later the mother of his two publicly acknowledged daughters.

• 1952

  Birth of Vladimir Putin

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October in Leningrad, Soviet Union.

• 1942

  Death of Viktor Putin during the siege of Leningrad

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Vladimir Putin’s brother Viktor died during the siege of Leningrad from diphtheria and starvation.

• 1911

  Births of Putin’s parents

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina were born. They later became the parents of Vladimir Putin and experienced the wartime losses associated with the siege of Leningrad.

• 1879

  Birth of Spiridon Putin

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Spiridon Putin, Vladimir Putin’s paternal grandfather, was born. Later accounts describe him as a professional cook who served senior Soviet leaders.

• 1627

  Early documented ancestor

  [1]Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org

  Yakov Nikitin, identified as a peasant from Borodino in the Tver region, appears in cadastral records from 1627–1628 and is commonly cited as the earliest known ancestor in Vladimir Putin’s documented lineage.

A prominent political family subject whose public identity is defined by Vladimir Putin’s position as Russia’s president and by historical, biographical, and investigative reporting about his relatives.

1. 1Family of Vladimir Putinen.wikipedia.org