While Donald Trump has long followed Vladimir Putin around like a lovesick teen, the Russian dictator now seems to be taking a page out of Trump’s book by putting the future of his country’s economy in his daughter’s hands.
As Newsweek reports, Putin’s 35-year-old daughter Katerina Tikhonova has been tapped to co-chair RSSP (Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs), a powerful group that oversees import substitutions throughout all of Russia. In other words: Vlad is hoping his daughter can help the country find its way through the economic downturn it’s facing in the wake of his decision to invade Ukraine. As Isabel Van Brugen wrote for Newsweek:
Some sanctions which were imposed on Russia in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 include stopping purchases of Russian energy, freezing access to some of the country’s foreign reserves and blocking Russia from accessing the SWIFT global banking system.
Since then, Russia has seen a shortage of crucial goods, while the country’s economy has seen a downturn. Data produced last month by Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service on the state of the country’s economy indicated that production has plunged in a number of sectors.
So now it’s up to Tikhonova—who, prior to becoming a high-powered tech executive, made her living as a competitive dancer—to save Russia from economic disaster.
Unlike Ivanka Trump, whose dad has repeatedly thirsted over her in public for years, Putin keeps his private life private. He has never publicly stated the names of his children, and little is known about them. Tikhonova’s relationship to Russia’s president was not noted in the RSSP’s announcement of her appointment. And while Newsweek reached out to both RSPP and Russia’s foreign ministry for comment on the appointment, they had received no response as of press time.
(Via Newsweek)