Children of dictators and their education is the subject of interesting studies and books showing the hypocrisy and cynicism of dictators, various world warlords, and their close associates who, criticizing the West, invest in their children, providing them with education, security and a prosperous life in the West. This article shows just a few examples. It also shows the double morality of Western universities, local and state authorities, which silently accept the blood-stained money of the satraps and, more than in one instance, keep their children safe.
Svetlana Alliluyeva (1926-2011)
Svetlana Alliluyeva (Source: Wikipedia)
Svetlana is Stalin's only daughter. After arriving in the US in April 1967, Alliluyeva convened a press conference condemning her father's regime and the USSR government. In 1982, she moved with her daughter to Great Britain, where she settled in Cambridge. Two years later, she returned with her daughter to the USSR. Upon their return, the authorities granted them Soviet citizenship. At that time, they lived in Tbilisi. In 1986, Alliluyeva returned to the United States, and in the 1990s she left for Great Britain again, this time to Bristol. She later lived in a retirement home in the US, in Wisconsin. She died there on November 22, 2011.
Sergei Khrushchev (1935-2020)
The son of a dictator of Soviet Russia, he was educated in Russia, in 1991 he emigrated to the USA and led a career as a Russian journalist. He worked closely with the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. He lived to old age and died in his home in Cranston, Rhode Island, USA.
Alina Castro
The illegitimate daughter (still from pre-revolutionary times) of Fidel Castro, fled to the USA. The State Department granted her political asylum. The arrival of 37-year-old ex-model Alina Fernandez Revuelta in Miami was confirmed by Republican Congressman Lincoln Diaz Balart from Florida, whose family is related to Fidel's first wife. One of Fidel Castro's sisters has also lived in Miami for many years.
Maria Voroncowa-Faasen
This is Putin's older daughter (born in Leningrad in 1985). She took her name from her husband, a Dutch businessman who, since 2007, has found employment with a Russian company — Gazprom. Maria Faassen studied at the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University (MGU). She graduated with honors and began doctoral studies at the Scientific Center of Endocrinology (ENC) of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. She runs a huge institute of nuclear medicine. Maria travels a lot. A few years ago, together with her friends, she went on a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea on the yacht Aria (the rental cost is 35–45 thousand Euro a week).
Katerina Tikhonova
Putin's younger daughter, born in 1986 in Dresden, where Putin, as a KBG agent, recruited associates. In December 2019, Tikhonova became a member of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports at the government of the Russian Federation. In 2021, she spoke at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia — the local equivalent of Davos. She is the owner of a villa in the tourist town of Biarritz, right on the Bay of Biscay. In mid-March, this building was taken over by activists. One of them broke in, changed the locks on the door and posted an advertisement in which he invited refugees from Ukraine inside. Now a photo of the entrance gate to the property, decorated with Ukrainian flags, has appeared on the web.
Jelizavieta Vladimirovna
Putin's illegitimate daughter. Her mother is Svetlana Krivonogikh, Putin's former lover. After the birth of her daughter in 2003, Svetlana, from a cleaner turned into a millionaire. Putin's daughter, Yelizaviet Vladimirovna, also known as Luiza Krivonogikh, Luiza Rozova, or "Putin's alleged daughter", until recently led an active life on Instagram, on which she was tempting with her body, as reported in the Western press.
Dimitrij Vladimirovich
Putin and Kabaeva (Source: Twitter)
Putin's illegitimate son. The mother is a 32-year-old gymnast, Alina Kabaeva, a lover or — as some say — the second wife of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. A beautiful Russian woman wrote in 2008: "I gave birth to a son". The birth of the child took place in an exclusive private Swiss clinic on Lake Lugano. It is allegedly for her that Putin injects himself with Botox. It is said that the second son was born later, and then twins were born in 2015. Probably, the whole family is in Switzerland at the moment. In the few contacts with the press, Kabaeva stated that both she and her children had Swiss passports. It was probably Alina Kabaeva — 31 years younger partner, and possibly even the wife of Vladimir Putin — who is the mother of their four children. Former Olympic champion in gymnastics, and former deputy of the Russian Duma, according to Swiss activists, she is hiding in the vicinity of Lugano. Swiss activists have launched a petition to expel Kabaeva from Switzerland.
Lavrov's Stepdaughter
Polina Kovaleva (Source: Twitter)
Polina Kovaleva is a 26-year-old Russian woman living in London. Lavrov's issued a cynical statement: "The West is bad, so I will send my children there." Polina is the daughter of Svetlana Poliakowa, Lavrov's second wife. At the age of 21, Polina bought an apartment on Kensington High Street, for which she paid in cash. She owns an apartment in Moscow with an estimated value of $6-8 million. She also has some luxury cars. According to British activists, the property belonging to Polina Kovaleva should be secured, and the owner should be allowed to demonstrate how she was able to acquire such property at such a young age. If she would not, the property should be seized, and the money obtained from the sale should go to the account of foundations supporting refugees from Ukraine or — after the confiscation of property — a place for women fleeing the war should be founded at this estate.
Ksenia Shoigu
Next to Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu is Putin's most famous associate. He is "a man for special tasks". During the last few weeks of the war, his daughter, Ksenia Shoigu (31) is playing in Dubai. Ksenia Shoigu is an employee of Gazprom Bank, and is also the organizer of the so-called a marathon of heroes, i.e. a league of strenuous field marches. It receives financial support from the Ministry of Defense and from armaments companies. No wonder — Ksenia has a dad, who is the minister of defense.
Son of Defense Minister Shoygu
Shoygu's illegitimate son is now 18 years old. His name is difficult to determine. The mother is Yelena Shebunova, who was a flight attendant on the plane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MCzS), on which the minister of this department, Shoygu, was flown. Shebunova worked in various companies that were subordinate to the Ministry of Defense or carried out contracts for this ministry and MCzS. She bought real estate from people associated with the Ministry of Defense and MCzS, companies with which she was associated. It is estimated that she earned at least 6.5 billion rubles ($75.8 million), and in addition to luxury cars, Shebunova also received an 181-meter (1,948 square feet) apartment in Moscow, and a luxury mansion in the prestigious Zhukovka district near Moscow. She also owned an expensive restaurant in Moscow.
Ilya Medvedev
The son of the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, he studies at one of the Russian universities. Ilya speaks several languages. The boy knows English, Italian and French. In a recent interview, he announced that he was going to go to the USA for further studies.
Olga Andenko
Daughter of the Deputy Speaker of the St. Petersburg Parliament Sergei Andenko. She owns 51% of the Karelian enterprise Medvezhya Gora, which is the owner of a crushed stone quarry in the Medvezhyegorsk region of Karelia. Experts from CJSC IC Energocapital estimate the value of this asset at 400 million rubles ($4.6 million).
Ekaterina Vinokurova
33-year-old daughter of the chief Russian diplomat, the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov. She studied political science at Columbia University and spent one year at the London School of Economics. She was said to not know Russian well. She currently lives in Moscow. Ekaterina is a co-owner of Smart Art, which promotes contemporary Russian artists. Her husband, with whom she has two children, is named Alexander.
Elsina Khayrova
31-year-old Elsina is the daughter of Rinat Khajrov, a politician from Putin's circles. She and her husband, Dmitry Tsvetkov (diamond dealer), have been using professional experts on a regular basis for about 10 years — regarding "various properties" in the UK and in Cyprus. Recently, she has been in financial trouble. The oligarch's daughter has been called upon to pay £22 million ($29 million) to renovate a mansion in Surrey. According to foreign media, she is in no hurry to pay her debts. She claims that her ex-partner, who was on the "Kremlin list", is responsible for everything.
Elena Luzhkov
The daughter of former Moscow mayor Yuri and Elena Baturina, once the richest woman in Russia. She has been living in London for years. After her husband was dismissed from his position, Elena sold most of the shares in Inteko and moved to one of the richest districts in London. There, her two daughters, who had moved a few years earlier due to safety reasons, were waiting for her. 30-year-old Elena openly says that she does not like Vladimir Putin.
Sonia Plotnikova
She is the daughter of Vladimir Plotnikov, one of Putin's deputies. She lives in Dubai. She wrote that Russia is the strongest country in the world and that the sanctions made citizens even more faithful to their homeland. She lives in a luxury hotel in Dubai.
Three daughters of Sergei Zheleznyak
The daughters of the Deputy Speaker of the Duma Sergey Zheleznyak, who belongs to Putin's inner circle of power, study abroad: one in Switzerland (at the cost of $70,000 a year), and the other at the University of London. The youngest, who is not yet studying, also lives in the capital of Great Britain. According to OpenTown, the education of the children costs a politician about $300,000 a year. Zheleznyak earns... one-third of that.
Diana Manasir
This is the daughter of the oil magnate Ziyad Manasir. She is a graduate of Queen Ethelburga's School in England and is currently studying Finance. Like most of her wealthy friends, the heiress to the oil empire spends most of her time in London.
Victoria Mikhleson
Her father is Leonid Mikhelson, the largest shareholder of Novatek and Sibur. When the girl decided to study art history at New York University, her dad created the Victoria - the Art of being Contemporary (V-A-C) Foundation to support young Russian artists. Her father's fortune, according to Forbes' estimates from last year, is 18.4 billion USD.
Dimitrij Lisin
Son of the owner of the Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), Vladimir Lisin. With a diploma from the London School of Economics, he works in his father's companies and is on the boards of his companies: First Freight Company, North-Western Shipping Company, Volga Shipping Company, Ruedia Media Holding. According to Dmitry: "father will be happy to pass everything on to the children as soon as they feel ready."
Irina Wekselberg
Daughter of the owner of the Renova concern, Wiktor Felixowitsch Wekselberg. Her father, with an estimated fortune of $13.4 billion, ranks 99th among the richest people in the world and 9th among the richest Russians, according to Forbes magazine in 2018. Irina Wekselberg worked in New York as a financial analyst at Citigroup, and now, after moving to Moscow, runs a company specializing in Russian-Chinese transactions with her husband.
Ekaterina Rybolovleva
The daughter of a Russian billionaire, 30-year-old Ekaterina Rybolovleva purchased an apartment in Manhattan, New York City, for $88 million. It was the largest transaction made by an individual in New York City. The Russian woman produced the entire amount without any negotiations. Rybolovleva's father gave her the Greek island of Scorpios, where her wedding took place with a Uruguayan financier; the same island where its former owner Aristotle Onassis married Jacqueline Kennedy. Ekaterina lives in Monaco.
In the West, not only the children of oligarchs from distant imperial Russia live and learn. Children of warlords from Africa and Asia show off in America by buying expensive houses and cars. The same is true of the new communist Chinese oligarchs and members of the North Korean regime. The sons of the Arab oil clans do the same in the United States and Europe. Not to mention the children of the mafias and pro-communist dictators in South America.
There is a moral dilemma over whether to accept the bloodied money of dictators. The question is about Western universities, banks, companies, municipalities, and governments. The existence of banks in countries where fortunes can be hidden is another problem of the West that increases corruption and a lack of transparency. Buying citizenships and passports of foreign countries to avoid criminal and tax liability is also not a democratic mechanism.
So it's time to repair this corrupt system, starting with the reform of the United Nations. The fact that Russia is vetoing its own case in the Security Council is an act that clearly shows the dysfunction of this international body that has long failed to fulfill its role.
