Uzbek President's Daughter Distances Herself From Sister

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, the youngest daughter of Uzbekistan's president, has given an interview to the BBC in which she says she has not been in contact with her sister for some 12 years.

Karimova-Tillyaeva, 35, is Uzbekistan's permanent representative to UNESCO and has lived in France for several years.

In the interview, she said she has lost touch with her ambitious older sister Gulnara, a pop music diva and fashion designer.

"We have neither family nor friendship contacts," Karimova-Tillyaeva said, adding the two sisters had never been close even as children.

She also denied her husband is wealthy because of their marriage, saying Timur Tillyaev built his own businesses in Switzerland and Uzbekistan without help from Uzbek President Islam Karimov or the president's friends.

She also objected to being called a "dictator's daughter."

Based on reporting by the BBC and AFP