The Russian Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), created in 2011 by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalnyclaimed this Tuesday to have discovered a luxury property in occupied Crimea linked to Vladimir Putin. Another of many that the Russian president has at his disposal. The residence is located on Cape Aya, bathed by the Black Sea. Twenty kilometers south of Sevastopol, the capital of the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia has illegally occupied since March 2014.
The compound fell into the hands of the oligarchs Yuri Kovalchuk and his son Boristwo businessmen who orbit around Putin’s circle of power. But it was the management company Credo – involved in the construction and maintenance of the residences of the head of the Kremlin in the tourist city of Gelendzhik, Lake Valdai and Krasnaya Polyana – that was in charge of rebuilding the complex in scrupulous compliance with the requirements of the Federal Protection Service (FSO), the body in charge of protecting senior officials of the Russian Federation.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation estimates at 10 billion rubles, about 127 million dollars at the current exchange rate, the renovation of a mansion previously occupied by the relatives of Viktor Yanukovychthe former president of Ukraine overthrown in the Euromaidan revolution due to his closeness to Putin.
“At first, on the site of this palace there was a building belonging to a private clinic. Later, Viktor Yanukovych became interested in the place, demolished everything that was there, cut down relict trees and began to build his own summer residence. After Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, Yanukovych’s property was seized and transferred to state property. Now there is a real palace here,” Navalny’s heirs explain in the published video on YouTube, which has accumulated 400,000 views.
Always according to the organization, the residence “was built with the same money and using the same ‘portfolio’ scheme as Gelendzhik”, another luxury complex known as Putin’s Palace that the head of the Kremlin enjoys on the Russian coast also bathed by the Black Sea.
“In the documents, the property is registered through a chain of companies. The nominal owner is listed as LLC Bereg, linked to the Golden Gate company, whose owners are classified. The same lawyers appear in the powers of attorney as in the case of the Gelendzhik palace,” the group adds.
“The technical specifications for the interiors explicitly include requirements of the Federal Protective Service, which rules out the version of a ‘private summer house’: the Federal Protective Service protects only the president,” the researchers explain.
Luxury
The complex is equipped with nothing less than a private medical center with an ultrasound machine, massage table, laboratory equipment, electrocardiograph and physiotherapy devices, as well as a dental office with a dental unit, X-ray machine, surgical microscope and ultrasound equipment, according to FBK.
It also has a spa, cryotherapy chamber, newly built helipad, private waterfront promenade and 24-hour security, plus separate buildings for in-house staff to enjoy. In total, there are more than 9,000 square meters, while the attached guest house covers another 5,000.
Among the images released in the video by Navalny’s heirs, one can distinguish, for example, an upper floor that has a huge bedroom, at the end of which is an irradiation and air recirculation unit, common equipment in hospitals and clinics… and in other spaces inhabited by Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a medal ceremony in Moscow to soldiers who participated in the war in Ukraine.
Reuters
The toilets, each measuring around 50 square meters, have marble floors and walls. The stairs, railings and jacuzzis are made of gold. According to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, the faucets, hangers and toilet paper holders alone cost more than 22 million rubles, around 240,000 euros.
On the lower floor, a surprise is the spa complex with a Turkish bath, a dry flotation therapy room, a massage room with a foot washing chair and a cryotherapy chamber. In the basement, there is a training area with an eight-seat cinema, club, billiard room, cigar lounge and wine cellar.
Precedents
Previous investigations by the Anti-Corruption Foundation uncovered the existence of the other three residences – not counting, of course, the Kremlin – that Putin enjoys. In fact, a documentary that Navalny’s organization published in 2021 that brought to light the existence of the Gelendzhik palace motivated a series of nationwide protests.
In 2023, another investigation — in this case by the independent Russian media Proekt— reported that Russian authorities had built a railway line and network of stations for Putin’s personal use. Secret facilities that lead to their residences.