When it comes to living dangerously, flinging Vladimir Putin’s daughter into the air is probably up there with wrestling a bear or skydiving without a parachute.
But that’s just what Dmitry Alekseev did with dance partner Katerina Tikhonova, the woman widely believed to be Putin’s youngest daughter.
In freshly discovered footage, Katerina is seen being tossed several feet into the air and spun around an unnatural number of times by Alekseev.
Tikhonova, who uses the surname of her maternal grandmother, was ‘outed’ last year by journalists who put together a string of clues to work out her real identity.
When asked whether Tikhonova was his daughter, the Russian president refused to comment, saying his family life was private.
The 30-year-old has competed in a number of tournaments in acrobatic rock’n’roll, a discipline for couples that involves a mixture of energetic dancing and acrobatic moves, the Guardian reports. On Saturday, Russia’s TV Rain showed two clips of Tikhonova and Alekseev dancing in the boogie woogie class of a competition.
Here’s what she looks like:
For years, Putin’s children have remained off limits from the Russian media, but Tikhonova is said to be married to Russia’s youngest billionaire Kirill Shamalov, who recently appeared on the Forbes Russia wealth list in 64th place after a rapid rise in his income.
Putin previously said of his daughters:
They are taking the first steps in their careers, but are making good progress. They are not involved in business or politics.
They have never been star children, they have never got pleasure from the spotlight being directed on them. They just live their own lives.
I am proud of them.
I wonder what other secrets Putin’s keeping…
