Allegations on Putin’s palace

Photos of a mansion located in the Russian southern resort city Gelendzhik, allegedly owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been released. Time reported on Jan 21 that the mansion, known as Putin’s Palace, has a stage for poll dancing, theatres, ice hockey rink and a smoking water pipe room.

Around 500 photos of the place were uploaded on a web hard drive by insiders of Alexey Navalny, previous head of the Russian opposition party, who has been prisoned since early last year. Navalny uploaded a blueprint design of the mansion on YouTube in January last year. The recent release are actual photos of the mansion. The mansion, estimated to be valued at 1 billion dollars (around 1.2 trillion won) has countless bedrooms and bathrooms, with chandeliers and murals in every room. The indoor pool features marble columns and a very extravagant stage, theatre and ice hockey rink.

Located near the Black Sea, the mansion covers 17,691 m² and the largest single owned property in Russia. The Russian Federal Security Service designated the 1.6-kilometer area adjacent to the property as restricted area some of which are owned by the Service. Putin acknowledges the mansion but denies ownership. He said that the disclosure in last January was “uninteresting.”


newsoo@donga.com