After a South Korean man was reported saying that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s youngest daughter would marry his son, a member of the man’s family has flatly denied the marriage plans.

“It is true that he has been good friends with her since he was young but reports that they are lovers or that they will soon wed are absolutely groundless," said a family member of the man known by his surname Yoon during a telephone interview with Yonhap News on Friday. "They wish to continue their good relationship but do not have any plans on marriage yet.”

A local newspaper reported earlier Friday that Putin’s youngest daughter will marry Yoon, whose father, a retired admiral and currently director general of the international cooperation bureau at the Korean Veterans Association, worked at the South Korean Embassy in Moscow as military attache in the late 1990s.

Citing an anonymous source, JoongAng Ilbo reported that Yoon Jong-gu, the man‘s father, told Kwon Chul-hyeon, Korean Ambassador in Japan, during a dinner in August that his youngest son would marry Putin’s youngest daughter soon.

According to the source, Ekaterina Vladmirovna Putina, 23, the youngest of Putin’s two daughters, is currently studying in the U.S. with her 25-year-old Korean fiancé.

The couple visited the dinner venue at a resort in Japan, accompanied by two bodyguards, the source was quoted as saying. 

“There have been rumors since long ago that Yoon and Putin’s daughter are very close. But I have never heard that they will marry soon,” a Foreign Ministry official told Yonhap News.

The two met in July 1997 at a dance party at an international school in Moscow, according to the report. Putin’s daughter is known to have approached Yoon first after seeing him dance.

Even after Yoon left Russia after his father’s term ended there, the couple continued their love. Putina also visited Seoul during the 2002 World Cup.

Joongang Daily reported that the former admiral said Putin first opposed the couple’s marriage but consented to it after meeting his son. Putin’s daughter wants to live and work in Korea after their wedding, it added, citing its source.

The daily quoted Yoon’s father as saying in a phone interview, “The couple will make an official announcement about their marriage. Please do not report their marriage now.”



By Lee Ji-yoon and Park Min-young

(jylee@heraldcorp.com)

(claire@heraldcorp.com)