New evidence has emerged that Vladimir Putin secretly owns a Black Sea palace worth £1 billion, following a data breach from an exercise app.
The Kremlin has denied that the lavish residence belongs to the Russian president, but an investigation by French newspaper Le Monde has revealed that the dictator’s bodyguards are often in the area.
This is based on data from the Strava training app which showed four security forces from Putin’s Federal Protective Service (FSO) running near the den in August to September 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
The same US app also links the bodyguards to another of Putin’s secret residences, a dacha just 30 kilometers from NATO territory in Finland in Lake Ladoga National Park, the newspaper said.
Russian independent media and the now deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny caused a scandal by revealing the existence of the Gelendzhik Stack, which has its own vineyard and 16 floors of underground passages buried in the rocks, described as more resourceful than Dr. . No.
New evidence that Vladimir Putin secretly owns a Black Sea palace worth £1 billion has emerged following a data breach in the Strava exercise app
Four security forces from Putin’s Federal Protective Service ran near the home between August and September 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
The Kremlin has denied that the lavish residence belongs to the Russian president
To spread the scandal, 72-year-old Putin’s close billionaire friend Arkady Rotenberg claimed that he – and not the dictator – was the “beneficiary” of the palace, and planned to turn it into an aparthotel.
Few believed this and the latest revelations are a further indication that this palace belongs to Putin and his secret partner Alina Kabaeva, 41, who has two secret sons with the tyrant, Ivan, nine, and Vladimir Junior, five.
The palace designs include on the eighth underground floor “a balcony – literally a loggia hanging over the sea,” built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy wine tastings from the palace stocks, said a mining engineer turned whistleblower who reportedly worked to the construction – only mentioned as Viktor.
Compared to a James Bond villain’s lair, it contains a throne for the dictator, and previously housed a striptease stage and a pole-dancing hookah hall.
An investigation in May by FBK – previously associated with the ‘assassinated’ Navalny – and Proekt showed that the decor in the palace was being renovated.
Out went the dictator’s infamous striptease stage and pole-dancing hookah hall, casino, games room and ‘aqua disco’, for which he was mocked and shamed in the original 2021 unveiling.
They may not be seen in accordance with his recent push for traditional values.
The flashy gold noted in the previous Putin Palace revelations also disappeared.
The residence was renovated and the dictator’s infamous striptease stage and pole-dancing hookah hall, casino, games room and ‘aqua disco’, for which he was mocked and shamed, were removed.
The palace exudes luxury with bedrooms overlooking the Black Sea – and one of them even has a statue of a bear
The palace contains a wooden throne for Putin, along with sacred religious icons and images
This was replaced by a church-within-the-palace, complete – as Russian emperors used to have – with Putin’s own wooden throne, along with sacred religious icons and images.
One shows the canonized Prince Vladimir the Great – the same name as Putin, and his historical hero – who is credited with uniting Ukraine and Russia more than a thousand years ago.
“This is probably the only room where the name of the real owner of this palace is directly mentioned,” the study said.
Epic paintings of historical war scenes appeared, showing a heroic Russia, for example during the Battle of Borodino in 1812, when Napoleon suffered heavy losses.
One contains part of a prominent Kremlin painting entitled “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword!”
The investigation was based on revelations by a palace redevelopment worker who had his FSB minders film the gigantic palace oozing with luxury.
The main bedroom overlooking the sea has a bear statue.
There are treatment rooms that could possibly be used for ‘medical and cosmetic procedures’.
Many believe the palace belongs to Putin and his secret partner Alina Kabaeva, 41, who has two secret sons with the tyrant, Ivan, nine, and Vladimir Junior, five.
Putin is known to have another palace north of Moscow, in Valdai, where Kabaeva and their two sons can reportedly live like royalty
Previously, the mining engineer described ‘a whole anthill in the rock under the house’ including a nuclear fallout shelter.
In August 2023, General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, once close to Putin, who kept the secrets about the palace’s construction, died mysteriously in prison.
The northern refuge is located in the Karelia region, close to a picturesque 4-meter waterfall and a stretch of advanced national park.
According to the independent news channel Dossier Center, a gazebo in full view of the beautiful place has been closed to ordinary Russians.
Putin is known to have another palace north of Moscow, in Valdai, where Kabaeva and their two sons live like royalty.
The Strava exercise app was used by French guards protecting President Emmanuel Macron, and US Secret Service agents protecting Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Le Monde reported.
The military personnel – generally sports enthusiasts – had not thought to protect and conceal their activities and decided to make them public.
This, in turn, has allowed Strava to reveal the presence of military bases around the world, or more often, their layout and the paths taken by the guards in or around them.