Journalist placed on wanted list after uncovering secrets about Putin daughter

"The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has placed investigative journalist Andrei Zakharov from Petersburg on the wanted list," - writes Mediazona, citing the department's database.

The criminal case against Zakharov started before April 18. Shortly after, a search was conducted in St. Petersburg at the home of Ksenia Klochkova, an independent correspondent for "Fontanka" and author of the Telegram channel "Rotunda." Security forces believed that "she might know Zakharov and possess material evidence related to the ongoing criminal case against him."

Andrei Zakharov worked at Fontanka until 2016, after which he moved to Moscow, where he got a job at RBC and also had the chance to work as a special correspondent for the Russian BBC service.

Zakharov wrote several high-profile investigative articles for which he received the Golden Pen Award. He is the author of the investigation into Vladimir Putin's alleged third daughter, Luiza Rozova - recalls The Moscow Times.

In October 2021, the journalist was declared a "foreign agent" in Russia. In December of the same year, he left the Russian Federation.

In 2023, Zakharov was twice held administratively liable for distributing materials without the "foreign agent" label, for which he was fined 40,000 rubles (about $530).

"The first thing that confirms the family ties with Rozova is their incredible resemblance in appearance. Therefore, the girl rarely posted her pictures on social networks or hid her face in them," - writes Obozrevatel.

The real name of Putin's third daughter is Elizaveta Krivonogikh. Her mother, Svetlana, was an ordinary cleaner in the 1990s and lived in a communal apartment in St. Petersburg. After meeting Putin, she suddenly became a multimillionaire.

Putin's former lover is now one of Russia's wealthiest people. She owns the Igora ski resort and property in Monaco.