#Rare photos leaked of Vladimir Putin’s two ‘secret’ daughters

Rare photos have emerged of Vladimir Putin’s two “secret” daughters — released by a former right-hand man who just lost a $12 billion lawsuit against Russia, according to reports.

Maria and Katerina, long thought to be the Russian president’s daughters from his first marriage to Lyudmila Putin, are seen in a series of snaps from when they were teenagers.

Neither has ever confirmed being the Soviet leader’s offspring — and even as recently as December, Putin deflected questions that would confirm their identities.

The images were posted on the website of Sergei Pugachev, a former billionaire confidant who once claimed to the Financial Times that he “personally brought Putin to power.”

Pugachev later fled his homeland, however, when hit with serious legal charges for an alleged Ponzi-style scam with a bank he owns. After fleeing abroad, he then tried to sue Russia for $12 billion for allegedly expropriating his assets — a claim the Hague International Arbitration Court refused to consider this week, Pugachev confirmed, while vowing to press on.

Fully aware of his former friend’s tight secrecy over his family, Pugachev posted the images of the then-teenagers with his own children, writing, “Young friendship is forever!!!,” according to Russia’s OpenMedia, which first reported on the images.

Both are now in their 30s, but the shots show the president’s daughters both inside the Kremlin and at Pugachev’s then-home near Moscow.

One photo shows them at a private party with the pop group Strelki, dubbed the Russian Spice Girls, the band confirmed to OpenMedia.

Both girls are from his first marriage with former Aeroflot flight attendant Lyudmila Shkrebneva, which lasted 30 years before their divorce in 2013.

Maria, 35, who uses the surname Vorontsova, has a career in medical research and is reportedly married to a Dutch businessman with whom she has a family, making Putin a grandfather.

Katerina, 33, known by the family name of her maternal grandmother, Tikhonova, was a competitive rock ‘n’ roll dancer who is now believed to head a major new Russian artificial intelligence initiative.

She was formerly married to Russia’s youngest billionaire, Kirill Shamalov, 38, but divorced in 2018.

Putin in 2015 shocked people when he spoke about how “proud” he was of his daughters, saying they spoke multiple languages — but without actually confirming their identities.

“I never discuss questions related to my family. They are not involved in business or politics. They are not pushing for this,” he told a news conference at the time.

Putin is also known to have a family with Alina Kabaeva, having at least two boys with the former Olympic gymnast — but is equally secretive about them.

With Post wires