Sanctions against Putin’s daughters are ‘difficult to understand,’ Kremlin says

A top Kremlin spokesman is lashing out after fresh US and European Union sanctions targeted Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and other family members of prominent Russians in response to the Ukraine invasion.

Putin’s daughters, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova, were among the most notable names included in the latest round of penalties as Western nations ratchet up the pressure on Russia.

Officials suspect the Russian leader’s kids may be involved in efforts to hide Putin’s wealth.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed outrage when addressing the sanctions during a Thursday press conference — describing the actions taken against Putin’s daughters as “difficult to understand and explain.”

“Of course, we consider these sanctions in themselves to be the extension of an absolutely rabid position on the imposition of restrictions,” Peskov said. “In any case, the ongoing line on imposing restrictions against family members speaks for itself.”

The latest sanctions prompted renewed scrutiny of Putin’s private life, which the Russian leader has rarely discussed. The European Union enacted sanctions of both daughters on Friday, matching the US move from two days earlier.

The Treasury Department described Tikhonova as a “tech executive whose work supports the [government of Russia] and defense industry.” Meanwhile, Vorontsova, the elder of Putin’s two known daughters, was described as a leader of “state-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research and are personally overseen by Putin.”

Tikhonova is a former competitive dancer who runs an artificial intelligence division at Moscow State University. Vorontsova is a medical research executive and co-owner of Nomenko, a health care investment firm.

As The Post previously reported, Putin has worked to keep his two adult daughters out of the public eye — rarely addressing their activities or even acknowledging their existence. The pair are Putin’s children with his ex-wife Lyudmila Putin, a former flight attendant whom he divorced in 2013.

The new tranche of sanctions also targeted the wife and daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a close Putin ally. Western officials have focused on wealthy individuals with ties to the Kremlin in an effort to increase pressure on Putin, who is accused of overseeing war crimes during the invasion.

WIth Post wires