The “Travel Companions” study says that Putin’s relatives used other people’s business jets for foreign trips more often than anyone else. According to the authors’ calculations, these flights took place in 2014–2023 and in total cost more than $5 million.
Of the 180 flights, 24 were made on planes belonging to 10 wealthy Russians. Among the likely sponsors, the study names Oleg Deripaska, Grigory Berezkin, God Nisanov, Alexey Repik, Ivan Streshinsky (Vladimir Yakovlevich), Dmitry Konov, MP Irek Boguslavsky, KAMAZ CEO Sergey Kogogin, former CEO of the Helicopters of Russia holding company Nikolai Kolesov, and Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin.
The study also says that the same number of wealthy people, 10, provided planes to the family of Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov, but this family itself made more flights — 27. The list was led by the family of the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev: it is attributed 13 likely sponsors and 23 flights.
According to the authors, Putin’s former wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya and his daughters Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova in 2014–2023 more often flew to Western European countries, above all to Germany and France. Tikhonova at different times flew to Biarritz, France, and then to Munich, where Igor Zelensky, former artistic director of the Bavarian State Ballet in Germany, worked as artistic director; on one of these flights, their daughter Elsa Tikhonova flew with them.
According to the study’s calculations, Alina Kabaeva made at least 27 flights on business jets. Shortly before the birth of her son Ivan, she flew with her mother to Lugano, Switzerland, and later used Ivan Streshinsky’s Bombardier Global XRS for a flight to the Maldives. Katerina Tikhonova, Igor Zelensky, and Elsa Tikhonova, according to the study, flew on Alexey Repik’s Bombardier Global 5000.
The study also says that Lyubov Kabaeva regularly travels on business jets with the family of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In addition, the authors write that Kabaeva once flew with Putin to Kazakhstan on a separate plane, and the president’s former mistress Alisa Kharcheva in 2020 flew to the UAE with Dmitry Desyatnikov and Magomed Magomedov, and in 2021 spent several days in Turkey together with Kristina Potupchik.
