The child was born in December 2017. She was given her mother's surname but kept her father's patronymic, making her Elza Igorevna Tikhonova, Proekt reported. Her mother, Katerina Tikhonova, is the younger of Putin's acknowledged daughters and lives under an invented surname.
Proekt said that on Nov. 11, 2019, shortly before her second birthday, Elza Tikhonova flew to Munich with her mother and father for two months aboard a business jet operated by the German airline Air Hamburg, now known as VistaJet. Less than two years later, the girl traveled to Croatia on a Bombardier Global 5000.
She was accompanied on those trips by a large group of people, including at least four nannies, two foreign-language teachers, her mother's assistant and Federal Guard Service (FSO) officers. According to Proekt, ten people accompanied Putin's granddaughter on her trips abroad.
The journalists suggest the girl was named after Princess Elsa from the animated film "Frozen." The assumption stems from Katerina Tikhonova's known fondness for Hollywood: at her wedding to her first husband, Kirill Shamalov, she performed a song by the princess from the American animated film "Anastasia."
The Russian president keeps members of his family out of public view, and they live under different surnames. From journalists' investigations, it is known that Putin has three daughters: Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova from his former wife, Lyudmila Putina, and Luiza Rozova, an illegitimate daughter by Svetlana Krivonogikh. The president also has two sons by the gymnast Alina Kabaeva, Ivan and Vladimir Spiridonov. A grandson is also known: Roman Faassen, the son of Vorontsova and her first husband, Dutch citizen Jorrit Faassen.
Proekt said the report is based on a leaked Federal Border Service database. Next week the outlet plans to publish a larger investigation titled "Fellow Travelers."