Paranoid Putin’s Black Sea Bunker Revealed
The Gelendzhik Palace, Vladimir Putin’s decadent hideaway in southern Russia, is just about everything you’d expect from a notorious strongman resort.
A sprawling mansion whose dimensions dwarf Buckingham Palace, the white-walled building is delicately perched atop the cliffs of the Krasnodar region with sweeping views of the Black Sea.
The interior features a casino, an underground skating rink and an ‘entertainment room’ complete with stripper poles.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Russian president and his VIP guests can relax in the cocktail lounge of the palace, or relax after a workout in the fully equipped gym by visiting the despot’s private spa.
Gelendzhik Palace, reportedly worth around £1 billion, is just one of Putin’s lavish private residences across Russia.
But blueprints of the incredible property published online by a now-defunct Russian construction company have truly cemented the palace’s status as a shadowy hideout fit for a James Bond villain.
The schematics, which were discovered by the Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by imprisoned Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, show an intricate network of secret shafts buried deep beneath the structure, as well as two survival and escape tunnels that could support VIP residents for weeks .
The Gelendzhik Palace can be seen in this in drone footage released by Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, with the exit hatch for the second tunnel in the bottom right
This image shows the exit hatches for both tunnels. Navalny’s associates claim that the upper tunnel serves as sheltered living quarters and that the exit is well hidden. There is reportedly a window at the end of the tunnel through which the occupants can see out to sea
A bird’s-eye view blueprint map shows the location of the palace, the direction of the tunnels and their exit points along the coastline
A cross-section of the elevator shaft shows six separate ventilation shafts (red) and drainage shafts (blue), as well as water, power, and sewer lines
An aerial view of a property located on the southern Black Sea in Russia
The palace is part of a huge complex located on the Black Sea coast near Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Krai, Russia
The blueprints of Putin’s incredible Black Sea estate have cemented the palace’s status as a shadowy lair fit for a James Bond villain
By all accounts, the palace offers an experience reserved only for the mega-rich and equipped with the appropriate security.
The building is surrounded by some 17,000 acres of land owned by Russia’s FSB security service, with no-fly and no-boat zones protecting it from prying eyes.
A marina and helipads were built to give the president easy access to the palace, as well as a railway line that is said to be Putin’s preferred means of transportation.
But the discovery of the tunnels shows that the Russian president is really prepared for anything.
Upon closer inspection, the blueprints suggest that the tunnels are designed to protect their occupants from any catastrophe.
Annotations of the plans show that the tunnels are encased in thick layers of concrete and moisture-resistant materials, with multiple air ventilation and filter shafts, and even their own electrical supply.
In the event of a disaster or an attack on the palace, Putin and his cronies simply hurried to a hidden elevator deep inside the building.
The shaft, which runs on a separate power system, takes the VIPs deep underground, where they have a choice of two tunnels.
The first tunnel is about 40 meters long and is located in the cliffs, with the exit about halfway up the rock face.
Navalny’s team called this tunnel the “trial chamber” – claiming it contains real living quarters where Putin and his associates could enjoy views of the sea that is still protected.
‘It’s a huge window that offers the best possible sea view. Here you can enjoy a glass of wine… this is not some kind of balcony where you are in constant danger, but a very safe underground place where nothing threatens you,” said the report of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
The second tunnel – believed to be the preferred option in circumstances calling for an escape rather than a shelter – is 60 meters long and opens directly onto the coast.
A hatch, right next to a thin gravel road just meters from the sea, can be clearly seen in drone footage captured by Navalny’s team.
This schematic shows the elevator shaft leading to two tunnels – one of which is set into the cliff face and the other extends all the way to the beach
This is a blueprint of the lower tunnel. It shows a detailed overview of cables and pipes that supply the tunnel with water, electricity and a sewage system, as well as emergency fire extinguishing systems, moisture-resistant material and ventilation ducts
A large room with grand ceilings is shown in images from inside the palace released by Navalny’s team
Other images show a bedroom in which Putin reportedly sleeps, a second bedroom and his office, as well as a swimming pool
Alexei Navalny’s team released a photo which they say shows a pole dance hall in the palace
The location of the shutters in the drone footage closely matches the blueprint of the tunnels published by Metro Style – a defunct subway construction company that originally published the plans.
The development of the Gelendzhik Palace was reportedly funded by several of Putin’s closest allies, including Igor Sechin – chief of Russia’s oil giant Rosneft – and billionaire magnate Gennady Timchenko.
Amid controversy over the palace sparked by the publication of the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s investigation in 2021, oligarch Arkady Rotenberg denied it belonged to Putin and said he owned the sprawling cliffside estate.
Billionaire Rotenberg is Putin’s former judo sparring partner and arguably his best friend since childhood.
The interior of the palace has since been gutted and is currently being refurbished due to what Navalny’s assistant Maria Pevchikh said was mold due to poor ventilation. Moscow Times reported.
But given the tunnels’ completely separate network of ventilation shafts, power, water and sewage lines, it’s reasonable to assume that Putin’s bunker hideout and his escape routes remain in order.
The discovery of the secret tunnel network suggests that another of Putin’s mega-palaces on the shores of Lake Valdai, northwest of Moscow, may be equipped with a similar arrangement.