Putin’s ‘secret’ doc & dancer daughters hit with sanctions over his war crimes

VLADIMIR Putin's secret daughters have been hit with sanctions in the wake of their tyrant father's horrific war crimes in Ukraine.

Dr Maria Vorontsova, 36, a geneticist, and Dr Katerina Tikhonova, 34, a dancer-turned-mathematician, are being blackballed by UK leaders and the US amid the Russian despot's continuing atrocities.

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The 67-year-old head of state has always tried to keep his offspring out of the limelight and has rarely ever discussed them.

But their dad's denial has done little to keep them off the sanctions-hit list, as they were slapped with travel bans and asset freezes today.

The United States announced the sanctions on Wednesday saying it was toughening penalties against Russian banks in retaliation for war crimes in Ukraine.

The US also acted against two of Russia's largest banks, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, prohibiting assets from going through the US financial system and barring Americans from doing business with those two institutions.

Meanwhile, the UK froze the assets of Russian banks Sberbank and Credit Bank of Moscow, and said it would end all imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022 in a ratcheting up of sanctions designed to "starve Putin's war machine."

A further eight oligarchs were also sanctioned, it said.

However, European Union diplomats failed to approve new sanctions against Russia proposed by the European Commission, as technical issues needed to be addressed, including whether a ban on coal would affect existing contracts, sources said.

On Tuesday, the EU executive proposed to ban the import of all types of coal from Russia, as part of a wider package of measures that would further restrict trade with Moscow.

Sanctions need to be approved by EU governments, but concerns were raised in a meeting of EU envoys on Wednesday, three sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

One key issue was raised by Germany, the EU's largest importer of Russian coal.

Berlin wanted clarification on whether the coal ban would affect existing contracts or only future contracts, sources said.

If the ban were applied only to new contracts, Russia would still be able to export coal to the EU for a long period.

The two women are said to have been thrown into the firing line due to the exposure of the horrors in Bucha and across Ukraine.

Harrowing images show how soldiers mercilessly raped and murdered civilians - and left their mutilated corpses to rot in the streets.

Boris Johnson said the savagery of Russian troops "doesn't look far short of genocide", as the West gear up to hit Putin where it hurts.

President Joe Biden called the latest round of sanctions devastating and said in a tweet: "I made clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediate price for its atrocities in Bucha."

The US Treasury Department is preparing more sanctions against major Russian state-owned enterprises, according to the White House.

The ongoing crackdown of the Russian President's exorbitantly wealthy pals and allies will now shift focus on his family members.

While neither Maria nor Katerina have been officially identified as being the Kremlin leader’s daughters, it is thought this is an “open secret”.

Maria, born on April 28, 1985, to Putin and his wife Lyudmila, is an endocrinologist and has a career in medical research.

The expert on dwarfism is believed to be married to a Dutch businessman, Jorrit Faassen, with whom she has a family, making Putin a grandfather.

On the other hand, Katerina has gone from being a high-kicking "rock’n’roll" dancer to spearheading a major new Russian artificial intelligence initiative.

The 34-year-old, known by the family name of her maternal grandmother, gained a doctorate from Moscow State University.

She completed a study on helping cosmonauts and pilots to orientate themselves in difficult conditions.

Although little is known about their private lives, the women - who share the same mother - are thought to live a luxurious lifestyle.

The fifth round of sanctions, which have already targeted oligarchs, politicians and Putin's inner circle, hope to suffocate Russia's regime.

The EU is also expected to veto new investment in the country and Russian ships in European ports, as well as implementing a ban on coal.

RUSSIAN TROOPS ATTACK 'FOR PLEASURE'

It comes after Volodymyr Zelensky's damning speech at the UN Security Council, where he reeled off an appalling list of war crimes.

He claimed savage soldiers ripped out victims’ tongues, crushed people under tanks "for pleasure" and raped and butchered mums in front of their children.

He said: "This is no different from other terrorists such as Daesh (IS) who occupy some territories, and here it is done by a member of the Security Council."

He backed up his claims with gruesome clips of burned and broken bodies, including a topless corpse in a well, a pile of dead children in a room and a line of dead men in a cellar with their hands tied behind their backs.

Moscow dismissed the reports as a “monstrous forgery” and blamed Ukraine for the killings.

But satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies appears to expose Russia’s lies.

Pictures show many bodies in the streets before Russia’s retreat.

Ukraine said at least 410 civilian bodies have been found in towns near Kyiv.

Zelensky said the United Nations was giving Russia a "right to sow death" with its Security Council veto.

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