Lyudmila Ocheretnaya
Людмила Очеретная
Lyudmila in 2012
First Lady of Russia
In role
7 May 2012 – 2 April 2014
Suspended: 6 June 2013 – 2 April 2014
PresidentVladimir Putin
Preceded bySvetlana Medvedeva
Succeeded byVacant
In role
7 May 2000 – 7 May 2008
Acting: 31 December 1999 – 7 May 2000
PresidentVladimir Putin
Preceded byNaina Yeltsina
Succeeded bySvetlana Medvedeva
Personal details
Born
Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Shkrebneva

(1958-01-06) 6 January 1958
Kaliningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1983; div. 2014)​
​
(m. 2015)​
Children
Alma materLeningrad State University

Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Ocheretnaya[1] (Russian: Людмила Александровна Очеретная, pronounced [lʲʊdˈmʲilə ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvnə ɐtɕɪˈrʲetnəjə]; née Shkrebneva (Шкребнева) and formerly Putina (Путина, pronounced [ˈputʲɪnə]); born 6 January 1958) is a Russian linguist who served as the First Lady of Russia from 2000 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2014 while married to her then-husband Vladimir Putin, the current president and former prime minister of Russia.

Early life and education

Lyudmila was born in Kaliningrad, Soviet Union, the daughter of Alexander (his patronym is reported variously as either Abramovich[2][3][4] or Avramovich) Shkrebnev (Александр Абрамович Шкребнев or Александр Аврамович Шкребнев) and Yekaterina Tikhonovna Shkrebneva (Екатерина Тихоновна Шкребнева). Her father worked at Kaliningrad Mechanical Plant.

She was educated as a linguist.[5] In 1986, Lyudmila graduated from the branch of Spanish language and philology of the Department of Philology of Leningrad State University.[6]

Later life and marriage

Lyudmila and Vladimir Putin during their wedding on 28 July 1983

In her early adult years, Lyudmila was a flight attendant for the Kaliningrad branch of Aeroflot. She met Vladimir Putin at a Arkady Raikin concert in Leningrad,[5][7] and they married on 28 July 1983.[8] The couple has two daughters, Maria (born on 28 April 1985 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) and Katerina (born on 31 August 1986 in Dresden, East Germany).[9]

From 1990 to 1994, Lyudmila taught German at the Department of Philology of Leningrad State University. For a few years prior to Vladimir's appointment as Prime Minister of Russia in August 1999, she was a Moscow representative of the company Telecominvest from 1998 to 1999 where she, as the only employee in the Moscow office, answered phone calls and organized meetings.[10][11][12][lower-alpha 1]

First Lady

Lyudmila with Vladimir Putin after his inauguration on 7 May 2000
US President George W. Bush and Lyudmila at an official dinner in honour of the heads of state and their spouses, who arrived in St. Petersburg to mark the city's 300th anniversary in 2003

After Vladimir's rise to political power, Lyudmila maintained a low profile on the Russian political stage, generally avoiding the limelight except as required by protocol and restricting her public role to supportive statements about her husband.[16][17]

Role in spelling controversy

As First Lady, Lyudmila Putina was a curator of a fund that aimed to develop the Russian language and sometimes produced statements concerning Russian language and education. Her preference for "maintaining and preserving"[18] the Russian language led her to make public statements against orthographic reform. The Russian Academy of Science sponsored a commission to study the orthography of the Russian language and propose changes. Their recommendations were made public in 2002 after eight years of work, but were subsequently rejected by Putina, who used Russia's burgeoning economy as one of her reasons why the orthographic reform was not just unnecessary but untimely. However, although one newspaper in Moscow alleged that "Lyudmila Putina de facto cancelled any attempts to reform spelling," the fact remains that public and academic reaction to the reforms was sufficiently negative to have that particular reform attempt abandoned.[19]

Divorce and remarriage

On 6 June 2013, she and Putin publicly announced the termination of their marriage based on a mutual decision.[20] The divorce announcement was made on camera for the Russian news media at the State Kremlin Palace during the intermission of a performance by the Kremlin Ballet, ending years of speculation about their relationship. In April 2014, the Kremlin confirmed that their divorce had been finalized.[21][22]

Marriage with Artur Ocheretny

In January 2016, a number of media outlets reported that Lyudmila married Artur Ocheretny in early 2015.[23][24][25] In documents on the ownership of her former St. Petersburg apartment, she was referred to as Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Ocheretnaya.[26][27]

Property and business

According to Reuters, Lyudmila helped create and supports the foundation called the Centre for the Development of Inter-personal Communications (CDIC) which generates millions of dollars.[28] The CDIC's offices are located in the center of Moscow, on Vozdvizhenka Street in the building previously known as Volkonsky House, which is its own property. The building, which once belonged to Leo Tolstoy's grandfather,[29] was listed in Russian cultural heritage register but was completely rebuilt in 2013, raising its height from two stories to four, despite numerous objections and protests by Moscow citizens including an unanswered appeal to Vladimir Putin signed by 200 famous science and cultural persons of the city.

The building is mainly occupied by commercial tenants, including VTB Bank, Sberbank, a construction company called Severstroygroup, a sushi restaurant, and a Burger King. Total rent from the building is about $3–4 million.[28]

Tenants pay their rent to a company known as Meridian, which is in turn owned by a company known as Intererservis, which is wholly owned by Lyudmila. Her sister, Olga Alexandrovna Tsomayeva, was previously General Director of Intererservis. Artur Ocheretny, Lyudmila's second husband, chairs the CDIC's management board.[28]

Sanctions

Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lyudmila was sanctioned by the United Kingdom on 13 May 2022.[30] [31] The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office stated that Lyudmila has "benefited from preferential business relationships with state-owned entities".[32]

Honours and medals

National

  • Laureate of the "Persons of the Year 2002" contest by Komsomolskaya Pravda in the category of "Educator of the Year" (2002)[33]
  • Honorary Citizen of Kaliningrad (2007)[34]

Foreign

  • Germany: Laureate of the Jacob Grimm Prize (2002)[35]
  • Kyrgyzstan: Laureate of the "Rukhaniyat" prize of the International Association for the Rebirth of Spirituality (2002)[35]
  • Kazakhstan:
    • Honorary Professor of the Eurasian National University named after Gumilev (2005)[36]
    • Golden Warrior medal (2005)[35]

Notes

  1. ↑ After Telecominvest was founded in 1994, Leonid Reiman was vice president of Telecominvest and two weeks after Vladimir Putin became prime minister in August 1999, Reiman became secretary of state - first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation state committee for telecommunications (Russian: статс-секретарем – первым заместителем председателя Госкомитета РФ по телекоммуникациям) and a few months later Reiman was minister. In 2004, both Jeffrey Galmond and Anthony Georgiou stated that the 51% stake held since 1995 by the Luxembourg registered firm First National Holding which was established through Commerzbank was beneficial to Reiman through the 1997 founded Liechtenstein firm Fiduciare Commerce Trust. In February 2000, the Swedish firm Telia obtained a 30% stake in First National Holding from Commerzbank.[13][14][15]

References

  1. ↑ Beard, Nadia (25 January 2016). "Vladimir Putin's former wife remarries and changes surname". The Independent.
  2. ↑ "Особая папка" Владимира Путина: итоги первого президентского срока и отношения с крупными собственниками', 'Алексей Мухин Центр политической информации, 2004, p.22
  3. ↑ Участники президентской кампании, Алексей Мухин Центр, (политической информации, 2004), p. 12
  4. ↑ Взлет и падение государства российского, Борис Николаевич Красильников, (Макс-Принт, 2003), p.572
  5. 1 2 Baczynska, Gabriela (7 June 2013). "For Lyudmila Putin, solace now that first lady 'shift' is done". Reuters. Moscow. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  6. ↑ Rudneva, Elena et al., Germans attacked Putins. Vedomosti, #137(1418), 28 July 2005. (in Russian)
  7. ↑ "Путина (Шкребнева) Людмила Александровна". 15 May 2021. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  8. ↑ "Lyudmila Putina Once Called Her Husband a Vampire". The Moscow Times. 7 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "5 Things You Didn't Know About Vladimir Putin's Personal Life". ABC News. 2 April 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  10. ↑ Walters, Greg (29 July 2005). "GermansSee Shady City Link". The St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Hassel, Florian. "Inopressa: "Телекоминвест" загадывает загадки" [Telecominvest makes riddles] (in Russian). Inopressa.ru. Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  12. ↑ Людмила Путина действительно работала в компании, подозреваемой в отмывании денег. Москва мешает расследованию [Lyudmila Putin really worked for a company suspected of money laundering. Moscow interferes with the investigation]. NewsRu.com. 28 July 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  13. ↑ Hassel, Florian (26 July 2005). ""Телекоминвест" загадывает загадки" [Telecominvest makes riddles]. Inopressa.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 7 September 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  14. ↑ Christoph, Pauly; Jörg, Schmitt (1 August 2005). "Правление Commerzbank в лапах русской мафии": Гальмондово хитросплетение. Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 17 August 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  15. ↑ Jenkins, Patrick; Ostrovsky, Arkady (30 July 2005). "Commerzbank пошатнулся после тяжелого удара" [Commerzbank staggered after heavy hitting]. Inopressa.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 July 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  16. ↑ Hasani Gittens (26 July 2014). "Meet the Putins: Inside the Russian Leader's Mysterious Family". NBC News. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "A look at the Putins over the years", The Moscow Times, 6 June 2013.
  18. ↑ "Moscow". Times Higher Education. 26 April 2002. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  19. ↑ "Language debate rages in Russia". BBC News. 18 April 2002. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  20. ↑ Hutchinson, Bill (6 June 2013). "Vladimir Putin and wife Lyudmila divorce after 30 years of marriage". Daily News. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  21. ↑ Allen, Cooper (2 April 2014). "Putin divorce finalized, Kremlin says". USA Today. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  22. ↑ "Russia President Vladimir Putin's divorce goes through". BBC News. 2 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  23. ↑ Putin's ex-wife sets Russian rumor mill churning, Deutsche Welle (28 January 2016)
  24. ↑ "Очеретный Артур Сергеевич: председатель Правления Межрегиональный общественный фонд "Центр развития межличностных коммуникаций"" [Ocheretny Artur Sergeevich: Chairman of the Board of the Center for the Development of Interpersonal Communications]. Delovoy Peterburg (dp.ru) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  25. ↑ "Очеретный Артур Сергеевич - любительская футбольная лига" [Ocheretny Artur Sergeevich - amateur football league]. lfl.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 August 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  26. ↑ Roldugin, Oleg (19 January 2016). "Людмила уже не Путина" [Lyudmila is no longer Putina]. Sobesednik (in Russian). Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  27. ↑ "Бывшая жена Путина вышла замуж и сменила фамилию, утверждают пресса и ФБК" [Putin's ex-wife got married and changed her last name, the press and FBK claim]. NEWSru. 25 January 2016. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  28. 1 2 3 Reiter, Svetlana (19 May 2017). "Exclusive: Putin's ex-wife linked to multi-million-dollar property business". Reuters. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  29. ↑ Richardson, Dan (2001). The Rough Guide to Moscow (third ed.). Rough Guides. p. 138. ISBN 9781858287003. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  30. ↑ Jackson, Patrick (13 May 2022). "Ukraine war: UK adds Putin's former wife to sanctions list". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  31. ↑ "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  32. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Liz Truss (13 May 2022). "UK sanctions the shady network funding Putin's lavish lifestyle". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  33. ↑ ГАМОВ, Александр (20 December 2002). Вчера Людмила Путина получила награду читателей «Комсомольской правды». KP.MD - сайт «Комсомольской правды» (in Russian). Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  34. ↑ Людмила Путина стала почетным гражданином Калининграда. РИА Новости (in Russian). 4 July 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  35. 1 2 3 Людмила Путина отмечает юбилей. РИА Новости (in Russian). 6 January 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  36. ↑ "L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University". www.enu.kz. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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