President Vladimir Putin has denied owning a Black Sea luxury estate after opposition figure Alexei Navalny accused him of hiding the property due to corrupt financing.
In a nearly two-hour-long film shared on YouTube last week, Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) showed drone footage of a lush “secret palace” of 68 acres (168 acres) boasting a huge mansion, two helicopter levels, an arboretum and an underground ice hockey rink. According to the film, the property, worth $ 1.35 billion, was paid off through an intricate web of illegal funds orchestrated by Putin and his allies.
Navalny, who told the video, said Putin allows his “friends” to “steal what they want from Russia.”
When a student inquired during a video call about the coastal estate, Putin said he did not watch the film due to a ‘lack of free time’, although he did make a variety of cuts through his assistant is prepared, went through it.
“I would like to answer your question directly,” he said. “None of what is indicated in the film as my property belongs to me or my next of kin, and never did. Never.”
Putin did not name Navalny, in line with the Kremlin’s refusal to recognize him in public.
The film, called “Putin’s Palace. History of the World’s Largest Bribe”, has been viewed more than 87,000,000 times on YouTube. Internet users expressed their surprise and expressed their fun at the very best amenities of the property, such as an indoor stage theater, a casino and a gentlemen’s club-style water pipe bar with a podium with a pole.
Navalny’s explanation can also be found on the appropriate website palace.navalny.com, which discusses the lengthy investigation.
Navalny, a 44-year-old anti-corruption activist who had long been at the crossroads of the Kremlin, became internationally known for being dead after falling ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. He was evacuated to Germany, where he was recovering for months.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has found he was poisoned with the banned nerve agent Novichok. The Kremlin denied that he tried to poison him.
Navalny returned to Moscow from Berlin on January 17, a few days before the film was posted online. He was arrested on his arrival.
Navalny’s detention has sparked widespread unauthorized protests across Russia. Russian police arrested 3,000 people during a rally over the weekend.
Amid the outrage surrounding Navalny’s arrest, US President Joe Biden has called on the Russian authorities to release the dissident and protesters who are campaigning for his release.
Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Images