Putin's likely daughter is involved in spreading Russian influence to Africa - Bloomberg

Bloomberg reports.

According to the publication, Russia offers digital expertise to African countries as part of this strategy. In particular, officials from about three dozen African countries have been invited to Moscow in December to meet with Russian IT specialists and investors who offer digital services to improve governance.

The project is managed by the Innopraktika center, which is part of the National Intellectual Development Foundation. Innopraktika's CEO is Katerina Tikhonova, Putin's likely younger daughter.

The publication notes that the visit of African officials to Russia is part of the outreach project E-Governance Knowledge Exchange Program launched by the foundation in July in cooperation with the Moscow Higher School of Economics.

The board of trustees of Innopraktika includes heads of Russia's most powerful state-owned companies associated with Putin, including Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, VTB Bank chief Andrey Kostin, Gazprom chief executive Alexey Miller and arms conglomerate Rostec’s general director, Sergei Chemezov.

Innopractika calls itself "a mediator for representatives of science, business, education and government."

In April 2022, the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Katerina Tikhonova and her alleged older sister Maria Vorontsova over Russia's war against Ukraine.

The US Treasury Department said that Tikhonova works for Russia's defense industry, and Vorontsova manages state programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin for genetic research and are controlled by Putin personally.