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“My family needs my support.” That was the reason Igor Zelenski (52), the world-famous ex-ballet dancer and artistic director of the highly regarded Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich, gave when he announced his departure earlier than expected in April this year. The man still had a contract until 2026, but he would not complete it. Those family pursuits are “not compatible with my activities as an artistic director,” he added.
Family of?
There has been no shortage of rumors ever since. Could Zelensky be related to the Ukrainian president with whom he shares his last name and move to Ukraine to fight in the war? That was the suspicion because a Ukrainian flag has been flying above the opera house since the start of the war and during a performance people applauded for the Ukrainian cause, also by Zelensky by the way.
But the truth is quite different, according to an in-depth investigation by The mirror and the Russian magazine Vazjnye istori (Important stories): Zelenski has been coupled with Katerina Tikhonova for years. The daughter of… Vladimir Putin. And therefore he was no longer wanted in Munich.
Zelensky is said to have been encouraged to resign for refusing to publicly condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine. Serge Dorny, director of the ballet house, told jokers posing as the Ukrainian culture minister. “We talked to him several times, and it became clear that he had to leave the opera. He didn’t make that decision alone, I led him there.”
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Dancer
It is not clear where Zelenski and Tikhonova have been since his departure from Munich. Vladimir Putin likes the spotlight, as long as it doesn’t shine on his own private life, and so do his daughters. Katerina Tikhonova (35), the younger sister of Maria Vorontsova (37), is said to have been born in Germany when her father worked for the KGB secret service. She caused a furore as a dancer at a young age and has been vice director of the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow University for several years now. There she leads research into artificial intelligence, among other things, and in that capacity she has also spoken several times at major conferences.
Little is also known about the relationship between Tikhonova and Zelensky. Putin’s daughter was married to Kirill Shamalov (40), the youngest Russian billionaire ever, until 2017, after which the two would have found each other. How and where they met is not clear and could not be traced.
The mirror in Vazjnye istori rely, among other things, on flight data and other documents to claim that the two are a couple and even have a two-year-old daughter. For example, between 2017 and 2019, Tikhonova frequently commuted between Munich and Russia, sometimes even several times a month, to be with her husband. Tired of all that travelling, she decided to live with him in 2019.
Politically outspoken
Russian-born Zelensky, 52, was a world-renowned ballet dancer who landed solos and leading roles in productions from New York to Germany to the United Kingdom. He had relationships with several famous ballerinas in the past, including Jana Serebrjakova. He has three children with her. After his active dance career, he took up management roles and in 2016 he started working at the opera house in Munich. There he presented himself as an assertive and passionate artistic leader, who, according to experts, led the opera house excellently and who was also not shy about making a political statement. Not long before his resignation, he had collaborated with Putin on a new theater in Crimea, the territory annexed by Russia.
The question of whether he may have family ties to the Ukrainian president with whom he shares his last name is difficult to ascertain. What is certain is that Igor comes from the Krasnodar region, close to the border with Ukraine, and the president of Ukraine comes from a Russian-speaking family. So it is not inconceivable. Though they would both prefer it not to be.
