[custom_adv] Rare photos have emerged of Vladimir Putin’s two “secret” daughters — released by a former right-hand man who just lost a $12 billion lawsuit against Russia, according to reports. [custom_adv] Maria and Katerina, long thought to be the Russian president’s daughters from his first marriage to Lyudmila Putin, are seen in a series of snaps from when they were teenagers. [custom_adv] Neither has ever confirmed being the Russian leader’s offspring — and even as recently as December, Putin deflected questions that would confirm their identities. [custom_adv] The images were posted on the website of Sergei Pugachev, a former billionaire confidant who once claimed to the Financial Times that he “personally brought Putin to power.” [custom_adv] Pugachev later fled his homeland, however, when hit with serious legal charges for an alleged Ponzi-style scam with a bank he owns. After fleeing abroad, he then tried to sue Russia for $12 billion for allegedly expropriating his assets — a claim the Hague International Arbitration Court refused to consider this week, Pugachev confirmed, while vowing to press on. [custom_adv] Fully aware of his former friend’s tight secrecy over his family, Pugachev posted the images of the then-teenagers with his own children, writing, “Young friendship is forever!!!,” according to Russia’s OpenMedia, which first reported on the images. [custom_adv] Both are now in their 30s, but the shots show the president’s daughters both inside the Kremlin and at Pugachev’s then-home near Moscow. [custom_adv] One photo shows them at a private party with the pop group Strelki, dubbed the Russian Spice Girls, the band confirmed to OpenMedia. [custom_adv] Both girls are from his first marriage with former Aeroflot flight attendant Lyudmila Shkrebneva, which lasted 30 years before their divorce in 2013. [custom_adv] Maria, 35, who uses the surname Vorontsova, has a career in medical research and is reportedly married to a Dutch businessman with whom she has a family, making Putin a grandfather. [custom_adv] She was formerly married to Russia’s youngest billionaire, Kirill Shamalov, 38, but divorced in 2018. [custom_adv] Putin in 2015 shocked people when he spoke about how “proud” he was of his daughters, saying they spoke multiple languages — but without actually confirming their identities.