Late Tuesday on the opposition leader’s first day at the infamous Matrosskaya Tishina facility, his team dropped a colossal investigation into the president’s wealth and offered Russians to look at what they believe is the ‘Palace of Putin’. the Black Sea is.
Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) called the report their “largest investigation to date”. It includes allegations of massive corruption schemes related to what they say is Putin’s property that is estimated to be worth about $ 1.4 billion.
CNN is not independently able to verify the claims made by the FBK. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday denied that the Russian leader was linked to the estate.
“They are repeating the old story. It was the year 2017 or 2016, if I am not mistaken, that the first time it was mentioned there was supposed to be Putin’s so-called palace in Gelendzhik. This is not true. Is not a palace, he doesn’t own a palace, ”Peskov told CNN.
“Those are all rumors and there were some disputes between the owners of those buildings, but they really have no connection with President Putin.”
The existence of the property was first reported more than a decade ago when a businessman Sergey Kolesnikov published an open letter containing several documents urging then-President Dmitry Medvedev to “stop the corruption” that caused the construction of the alleged palace.
The report and an almost two-hour documentary film also provide a more comprehensive look at the palace. FBK says a subcontractor involved in the construction provided detailed plans of the building, along with itemized lists of furniture purchased and examples of floor patterns. The group then used these documents and photos of construction workers to create 3D models of the interiors.
“This is like a state in a state where an indelible tsar rules,” Navalny said in the documentary. “It is built in such a way that no one can reach it by land, sea or air, thousands of people who work there are not even allowed to carry a simple mobile phone with a camera … but we will look inside.”
According to plans, the 17,691-square-foot castle will feature 11 bedrooms, several living rooms and dining areas, a private theater, a movie theater, a Las Vegas-style casino, two spas and a hammam, a bakery and a room “of unknown purpose.” Decorated with velvet and sumptuous carpets, the rooms feature marble floors, columns and intricate ceiling decorations resembling the royal palaces of St. Petersburg.
A separate section of the report is devoted to descriptions of astonishingly expensive furniture made to order by a luxury Italian brand, including a $ 56,000 table and a $ 27,000 sofa.
Described on the FBK site as “the most controversial room in Putin’s palace,” the plan also includes a hookah lounge with what looks like a dancer pole.
As Navalny’s site sarcastically puts it, “On the plan it’s referred to as a ‘hookah room’. ” And everything was supposed to be fine, but there isn’t a single window in that room, but for some reason there’s a stage “A locker room, spotlights and something very similar to a pole drawn on the plan. We’ve been thinking a long time. What it could be. Maybe they make giant shawarmas there … Or it’s a firefighter training ground.”
Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation says the castle’s cost has skyrocketed as a result of ongoing renovations, according to interviews with people who worked on the site. The house initially had critical issues with the ventilation system and humidity, which, according to the FBK’s probe, resulted in many rich interiors being destroyed by mold.
FBK says the property around the palace itself covers an estimated 68 acres, but adds that the actual estate is likely about 100 times larger, with a large adjoining lot allegedly belonging to the Federal Security Service, or the FSB, as a buffer to the estate.
According to the drone videos shot by FBK, the estate features its own hockey rink, personal church, amphitheater, and 2,500-square-foot greenhouse. The area is heavily guarded with multiple checkpoints leading to it; the plot itself is listed as a no-fly time per FBK.
The area has extensive vineyards where classical music is played around the clock, apparently to help ripen the grapes, according to members of the vineyard association for the region who heard the music play on a tour of the estate, the FBK says. The bathrooms at a processing plant in the vineyard reportedly come with an $ 850 Italian toilet brush and a $ 1,250 toilet paper holder.
Navalny claims that wine making is Putin’s “very expensive hobby” and the Russian president pours this wine to his friends: “He drinks it with his friend from China, Xi Jinping, and under the same chardonnay discusses ‘deeper integration’ with [Belarusian President Alexander] Lukashenko, “according to pictures of menus he claims were served at official receptions.
Navalny also claims to have uncovered a complicated scheme to fund the president’s real estate and other personal expenses. The report claims that at the beginning of his presidency, Putin struck a deal with Russian oligarchs and wealthy businessmen to “donate” part of their income to an investment company. But 35% of those donations would then go to a special offshore Swiss bank account of a Belize-registered company, Navalny claims. Reuters previously reported on the financial web about Black Sea real estate in 2014.
Navalny, faced with the choice of being forgotten as an emigrant or of returning to Russia and almost certainly imprisoned upon arrival, chose the latter option.
He was detained at an airport in Moscow late on Sunday, shortly after arriving from Germany, where he recovered for five months from the Novichok poisoning he blamed on the Russian government. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any involvement.
The next morning, Navalny faced an unexpected hearing in which the judge ordered him to be held in custody for 30 days. He is now awaiting trial to determine whether he violated the terms of his suspended sentence in a 2014 embezzlement case that he said was politically motivated.
Following the verdict on his detention, Navalny’s team announced a nationwide rally this weekend, and the report is seen as a way to get more Russians onto the streets.
“Above all, I want the same kind of anger that burns inside me to burn in the people watching this video,” tweeted Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh. ‘Putin is robbing my country, imprisoning my friends, he is a murderer. And I want to fight back. Moscow, Pushkin Square … I’ll be there. I hope to see you there too. ‘
In less than a day, the documentary has been viewed 25 million times on YouTube and aims to catch up with the report on Medvedev’s wealth and Navalny’s investigation of his own poisoning.
The documentary showing Medvedev’s house, among other things, was viewed more than 37 million times and sparked several mass protests all over Russia. At the time, the Kremlin was making calls to protest illegal and Medvedev dismissed the report as “nonsense”. The demonstrations resulted in mass detentions; About 1,000 people were arrested in Moscow alone.
Frederik Pleitgen of CNN contributed to this report.