Putin biography author marianne

The revelations that Vladimir Putin's daughter has had to flee her Dutch home will cause fury for the Russian president who has always fiercely shielded her from publicity.

Very little is known about Maria, 29, and her sister Ekaterina, and the president's spokesman has admitted that Putin demands a 'closed system' about his daughters.

As she goes into hiding, here's what we do know about Russia's first daughter.

She's named after her Grandmother

Maria, known as Masha, was born in Leningrad, now St Petersburg, in April 1985 and is named after Putin's mother.

Both Maria and her 27-year-old sister attended German-language schools and St Petersburg State University, where Maria studied biology and Ekaterina majored in Asian