It is a name that Vladimir Putin will no doubt be sick of hearing.
So it is perhaps no surprise the Russian dictator’s new grandson has been given his mother’s surname to avoid him using his father’s family name – Zelensky.
The boy, Adrian, was born on August 15, 2025 but his existence has only now become known, according to reports.
He is the son of Putin’s second daughter Katerina Tikhonova, 40, a former rock’n’roll dancer who is now a multimillionaire tech executive in charge of key Russian AI developments with a role in sanctions-busting.
The one-year-old’s father is ballet dancer and artistic director, Igor Zelensky, 57, previously head of the Bavarian State Ballet, who shares a a surname with a certain Ukrainian leader – although they are not related.
Use of the name Zelensky by his fourth known grandchild appears too difficult for dictator Putin who has been at war with Ukraine for almost five years.
It took 11 months after Adrian’s birth for him to be registered. Then his surname was shown as Tikhonov, the male version of the family name used by Katerina, according to independent news outlet Agentsvo, which disclosed the existence of Putin’s latest grandchild.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin pictured chairing a meeting on November 12
By law, births should be registered in the month after birth.
The couple’s firstborn Elsa, now eight, was at birth given the female version of her father’s name – Zelenskaya – but is now believed to use Ms Tikhonova.
‘The reason for the delay is unclear,’ reported Agentsvo. ‘It could be related to the Putin family’s desire to conceal the birth of the president’s fourth grandchild, or to difficulties arising from the different surnames of the parents – Tikhonova and Zelensky.’
All five of Putin’s children live under assumed names. The name Tikhonova is derived from Katerina’s maternal great-grandfather.
Ms Tikhonova has an older sister, Maria Vorontsova, 41, also from Putin’s marriage to ex-wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, now 68.
His two eldest daughters are only slightly younger than the dictator’s partner Alina Kabaeva, 43, with whom he has two sons Ivan, 11, and Vladimir, eight, who were both given the surname Spiridonov rather than Putin.
Putin also has a daughter Luiza Rozova, 23, from his extra-marital relationship with Svetlana Krivinogikh, 51, a cleaner turned wealthy bank director and striptease club owner.
Putin’s grandson is taking the surname of his daughter Katerina Tikhonova, pictured
Luiza prefers to live in Paris rather than under her father’s repressive rule.
Putin also has two grandchildren from Vorontsova, including a half-Dutch grandson.
Spiridonov appears to be a family name linked to the first name of Putin’s colourful paternal grandfather Spiridon Putin, who lived from 1879 to 1965, dying on his 86th birthday.
Spiridon was the personal chef for the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, and also cooked for his widow Nadezhda before preparing meals for tyrant Josef Stalin in the Kremlin.
Earlier, he had served notorious mad monk Rasputin while working at the legendary Hotel Astoria in St Petersburg in the tsarist era.
