Reuters source backtracks on claim that Putin's daughter is an acrobatic rock 'n' roll star

Katerina Tikhonova.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Jakub Dabrowski/Files)

Update 5:07 p.m. ET: After this article was published, Reuters' source — who had twice affirmatively answered Reuters' questions about whether Katerina Tikhonova was Vladimir Putin's daughter — "withdrew his comments, saying he had misheard the question," Reuters reports, adding, "It is the second time in two years that Reuters has disclosed Tikhonova's relationship to the president, citing a named source, and then been publicly challenged post publication." Our original report appears below.

For several years, rumors have circulated that a young acrobatic rock 'n' roll dance star named Katerina Tikhonova is the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Tuesday, Reuters said it finally had proof. Tikhonova's rumored identity was apparently confirmed by an official from the World Rock'n'Roll Confederation named Manfred Mohab. When Reuters asked him if he knew Putin's daughter, Mohab said, "Yes of course."

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Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.