Putin says grandchild speaks fluent Mandarin, has Beijing nanny

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his grandchild speaks fluent Mandarin because her nanny is a Beijinger, underscoring tight Moscow-Beijing relations.

“I mentioned that some of my close relatives are studying Chinese; I was referring to my granddaughter, whose nanny is from Beijing. She speaks Chinese fluently with her,” Mr Putin said during a meeting with foreign journalists in St Petersburg that ended early on June 19. 

Russians are showing greater interest in learning Chinese as economic ties between the two nations deepen and annual trade hits US$240 billion (S$309 billion), Mr Putin said.

Mr Putin’s remark offers a rare insight into the Russian President’s personal life and illustrates the two nations’ close relationship.

China has not joined in the international sanctions that Russia was hit with after

its full-scale invasion of Ukraine

in 2022, instead emerging as a key trading partner.

Mr Putin, 72, is extremely private.

Officially, he is known only to have two adult daughters from his first marriage.

He has not publicly disclosed his children’s names. But both of them – Ms Maria Vorontsova, 40, and Ms Katerina Tikhonova, 38 –

have been sanctioned by the US

, the European Union and the UK over the war in Ukraine. 

Mr Putin is not the only isolated leader whose focus has shifted to China, including at the family level.

Mr Nikolai Lukashenko, 20, the youngest son of the Kremlin’s closest ally, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, has apparently been studying at a university in Beijing. BLOOMBERG