Putin says the “little ones” in his family can speak Chinese fluently

“My family members, the little ones, are fluent in Chinese.”

The Russian leader is known to be secretive about his family and personal life.

Putin has two daughters, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tithonova, with his ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva. The couple announced their divorce in 2013.

In 2017, Putin told director Oliver Stone during an interview that he is a grandfather, although it remains unclear how many grandchildren he has.

Putin’s remarks on Monday should not be surprising given Russia’s close relationship with China. The Asian giant has remained a close economic ally of Russia amid its high-profile war with Ukraine.

In February 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Putin declared a “boundless” partnership after meeting on the sidelines of that year’s Beijing Winter Games.

That said, Putin was quick to remind his audience that they shouldn’t just focus on the Chinese language.

“But it does not mean at all that we should forget our interest in the English language. English is a great language, it has given humanity a lot in terms of combining knowledge and uniting people in the field of culture and so on,” Putin said on Monday.

“We don’t reject anything, we don’t have enemy languages, we don’t even have enemy countries. We have hostile elites in some countries who have been fighting Russia for centuries.”

Representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.