Dad Wages War, Daughter Curates: The Secrets of Putin’s Family at Parisian Vernissages

Vladimir Putin, a well-known fan of secrecy and archival dances, has now found himself at the center of an art scandal in Paris. According to independent media, his alleged illegitimate daughter, Elizaveta Krivonogikh—now known in certain circles as Luiza Rudnova—curates exhibitions with an anti-war message right in the heart of Europe.

If you thought jokes about the double lives of Russia’s elite were outdated, here’s a fresh plot in the spirit of Magritte: “This is not Putin’s daughter, this is an exhibition curator.” Investigators report that Luiza/Elizaveta moved to Paris, where she has been studying the art of art management since 2020 (what else is an oligarch’s daughter to do in Europe if not create conceptual discomfort?). She runs two galleries—Studio Albatros and L Galerie—where works by Russian and Ukrainian artists with anti-war messages are exhibited.

The first alarm was raised by artist Nastya Rodionova, who escaped Russian reality for Paris and suddenly discovered who was hiding behind the refined curatorial pseudonym. As is often the case, Rodionova refused to exhibit: “We need to know who we’re dealing with,” she explained. Apparently, a curator with Kremlin family roots was too sharp a performance for her taste.

Gallery owner Dmitry Dolinsky, on the other hand, was philosophical: after all, children are not responsible for their parents. As he admitted, if he judged employees by their relatives, he himself would be out of a job. The art community, however, is far less forgiving—reminding everyone that the young curator’s mother, former cleaning lady Krivonogikh, suddenly became a bank shareholder and owner of luxury real estate soon after meeting Putin. Progress worthy of its own museum hall.

In the end, we have a scene typical for Russia: some relatives build power verticals and wage war on the world, while others—under assumed names—build horizontals in art and call for peace. And both processes are equally avant-garde: you can understand them, but accepting them is another matter.