Russia - Associate of President Vladimir Putin
About
Svetlana Krivonogikh, a former cleaner from St. Petersburg, is reported to have been in a hidden, years-long romantic relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to a 2020 investigation by the Russian investigative group Proekt, the relationship started in the 1990s, before Putin became president, and continued into the early 2000s. In 2003, she gave birth to a girl, with no father listed in official records. Proekt reported that the girl is Putin’s daughter. The Kremlin has previously dismissed the Proekt report as “unfounded”.
Svetlana Krivonogikh grew up in Leningrad (later St. Petersburg) apartment complex that her family shared with four others, and when she finished high school she worked as a cleaning lady in a store, Proekt reported.
She is now wealthy, according to the Proekt investigation, which found that her residential real estate holdings were worth at least $14.5 million. She also owns assets together with members of Putin’s inner circle. For example, she holds 3% of Bank of Rossiya, which is controlled by Putin’s close friend Yuri Kovalchuk, according to Proekt, and she and Kovalchuk are owners of the Igora ski resort in Sochi.
In The Pandora Papers
In The Pandora Papers
The Pandora Papers reveal that Krivonogikh is the owner of an offshore company that bought a $4 million Monaco apartment in the fall of 2003, the year Krivonogikh gave birth to the daughter reportedly fathered by Putin.
The British Virgin Islands-registered company, Brockville Development Ltd., used so-called nominee, or stand-in, shareholders provided by a Monaco wealth management firm, Moores Rowland. Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire in Putin’s inner circle, was also a client of Moores Rowland and has used one of the same nominee shareholders. Timchenko's lawyers suggested that any connection between him and Krivonogikh was "misconceived".
Krivonigikh did not respond to requests for comment from ICIJ’s media partners.
Secrecy Jurisdictions
British Virgin Islands
Secrecy Broker
At the heart of the Pandora Papers are 14 offshore firms that help clients establish companies in secrecy jurisdictions. This profile draws on leaked data from these providers:
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The information on this profile is current as of October 3, 2021. Read more about the Pandora Papers data.