Vladimir Putin has paid lavish salaries to British nannies to look after his young sons, a new report has revealed.
The carers are banned from discussing ‘LGBT-related topics’ and have their movement heavily restricted, with one reprimanded for failing to clean one of the boys after he had been to the toilet.
Even though Putin says Russians who view the West as a role model are ‘national traitors’, he has employed at least 20 foreign governesses and tutors from countries such as Ireland, Austria, Germany, as well as New Zealand and South Africa.
The president has officially been single since he divorced his former wife Lyudmila in 2014, but it is an open secret in Russia that he is in a relationship with Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic rhythmic gymnast.
The couple has two sons, Vladimir Jr, who is now aged six or seven, and Ivan, who is 11.
The children spend most of the year at their father’s heavily fortified mansion near Lake Valdai, northwest of Moscow.
Details of family life have been uncovered by Systema, the investigative unit at RFE/RL, the US-government funded website, which has gained access to a trove of correspondences and contracts related to their upbringing by international carers.
For example, Putin – who has dubbed same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights ‘outright Satanism’ – gave employees strict instructions not to discuss gender issues with the children.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) hands flowers to Alina Kabayeva, understood to be his secret partner
Putin’s son Ivan (nicknamed Vanya), April 2019
A Christmas card made by a child, with the message ‘Dear Mummy and Daddy, Lots of Love from Vanya’ inside
‘Never impose your religious, political, or ideological views on the Client,’ each tutor’s contract said.
‘Do not discuss topics of sexual relations or sex education without first consulting with the Employer. Under no circumstances should you discuss LGBT-related topics.’
According to Systema, approximately four to six people worked with a child at any given time, some simultaneously, others in shifts.
The documents obtained by Systema cover the years 2017–2026, and most are from emails sent to an account used by Olesya Fedina and Ekaterina Golovacheva, cousins of Alina, the mother of Putin’s sons.
Amid plans to reduce the amount of foreign language teaching in Russian schools, Putin’s children are expected to master at least two foreign languages.
According to a transcript of Olesya’s meeting with governesses in 2019, by the age of four, Ivan was to be constantly immersed in a ‘language bath’.
His English was to sound like ‘the speech of a literate European’, while similar requirements were imposed on his German education.
Jane M., a 58-year-old British-Irish tutor, was prohibited from visiting ‘public places’ in her free time.
‘Prepare a list of [items] you need and we can buy them and give them to you after treating them with safety agents,’ a message read.
Not everyone could withstand the mental burden of isolation, however.
In 2023, British English teacher Harry A. asked his employer for two months of unpaid leave, citing personal matters and ‘burnout from living in quarantine’.
The employees were required to write daily reports. ‘[Ivan] liked the tiger and lion cubs the most. He even wanted to take them home,’ read a summary on a day out in 2019 to the zoo in Sochi, the Black Sea resort where Putin also has a luxury residence.
Putin’s sons have two ponies, rabbits and a St Bernard dog, which is cared for by Kremlin guards but lives with the family. Pictured: Ivan
One of the reports prepared by Iran’s nanny in March 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with famous Russian gymnasts Alina Kabayeva (C)
Alina Kabaeva looks on during the individual final event of the 2026 Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships at Irina Viner Gymnastics Palace in Moscow, Russia on March 6
Ivan also made a Christmas card for Putin and Kabaeva on December 25, 2018, with the message ‘Dear Mummy and Daddy, Lots of Love from Vanya’ written inside.
Russian Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas in January.
In November 2018, one governess was accused of failing to clean Ivan properly after he had been to the bathroom.
Monthly salaries for governesses are set at a base level of 167,000 roubles (£1,700) but their wages are supplemented by bonuses and cash payments.
Some of the nannies were being paid as much as £6,000 a month, several times the average Russian salary.
‘The real contract is 1,500 GBP / w + accommodation,’ a handwritten note to a governess named only as Kate read.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin is said to prefer employees from countries friendly to the Kremlin, such as South Africa.
Staff turnover in his residences is said to be high.
As well as his sons, Putin has two adult daughters with Lyudmila, a former Aeroflot stewardess.
Maria Vorontsova, 41, is an endocrinologist, and Katerina Tikhonova, 39, is a tech executive and former rock ’n’ roll acrobat dancer.
The Russian leader has never acknowledged them publicly as his daughters, and once referred to them as ‘these women’.
Rumours suggest he also has a daughter from an affair he had before becoming president in 2000.
In 2024, the Dossier Centre, a Russian investigative outlet, first revealed the existence of Putin’s young sons.
They have two ponies, rabbits and a St Bernard dog, which is cared for by Kremlin guards but lives with the family.
‘They have to play mostly alone or with adults. They only see their parents late at night,’ the Systema report said, citing interviews with an anonymous member of staff.
Like their father, the young boys have their own mugs and drink only from them. All their food is prepared by a personal chef.
While Putin publicly espouses a love for Russian children, he has shown no mercy to the minors who are accused of disloyalty to his dictatorship.
There are currently 107 children in jail in Russia on politically motivated charges, according to Memorial, a human rights group that has been banned by the Kremlin.
