Vladimir Putin the ‘tsar of a luxury kingdom’

Alexei Navalny has released an online investigation into what he says is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s palace on the coast of the Black Sea.

President Vladimir Putin crosses himself as he plunges into the icy waters during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Moscow. Picture: AFP

Alexei Navalny has continued to taunt the Kremlin from behind bars with the release of an online investigation into what he says is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s palace on the coast of the Black Sea.

Mr Navalny, 44, was arrested on Sunday as he flew back to Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning that he alleged was carried out on Mr Putin’s ­orders.

He faces 3½ years in prison on charges of violating the terms of a suspended sentence for fraud that was imposed in 2014. A court will rule on the case on February 2.

Mr Navalny is being held at Matrosskaya Tishina, a notorious prison in Moscow. His supporters have called for nationwide street protests on Saturday.

In a video shared on Wednesday AEDT Mr Navalny and his FBK anti-corruption group ­accused Mr Putin of owning a sprawling palace in Gelendzhik, a resort town in southern Russia.

Mr Navalny said that the construction of the 100 billion rouble ($1.75bn) palace had been ­financed with illicit funds provided by members of Mr Putin’s inner circle.

“It’s an entire city, or rather a kingdom,” Mr Navalny said in the video. “It has impregnable fences, its own port, its own security, a church, its own permit system, a no-fly zone, and even its own border checkpoint.

“It’s like a separate state inside Russia. And in this state there is a single and unchanging tsar: Putin.”

He added that the palace’s grounds were 39 times the size of Monaco.

“Putin’s friends, who received from him the right to steal whatever they wanted in Russia, thanked him a lot. But they also chipped in, collected 100 billion roubles and built a palace for their boss with this money.”

The FBK said that the video had been completed while Mr Navalny was convalescing in Germany, but they had waited until his return to Russia to publish it on his YouTube channel: “Alexei didn’t want this investigation’s main character, Vladimir Putin, to think that we are afraid of him.”

Navalny spokesman Kira Yarmash, said online traffic data indicated that the video had been viewed a million times within an hour.

The investigation included 3D images of the interior of the palace, based on leaked blueprints and photographs. Mr Navalny said the palace had luxury furniture, including a leather sofa worth 20 million roubles — more than the average price of a two-bedroom flat in Russia. There was also a hookah room where people share flavoured tobacco, equipped with what appeared to be a dance pole.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) turned out to be a great lover of sofas,” Mr Navalny said. “There are 47 of them in his palace. I wonder if he sits on them all or just on the most expensive ones?”

Russia has rejected growing international calls for Mr Navalny’s release. Mr Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “We hear these statements, but we are not going to take them into account.

“This is an absolutely internal matter, and we will not allow anyone to interfere in it.”

He added that it was “absolute nonsense” to suggest Mr Putin was afraid of the opposition leader.

Mr Navalny’s lawyers said a court decision to keep him in custody until a ruling on converting his suspended sentence into a real prison term was illegal under Russian law.

Alexei Melnikov, the head of Russia’s independent prison watchdog, said he had visited Mr Navalny in prison, where he was the sole occupant of a three-man cell. “He was tired, but his mood was OK. He said he was glad to be back in Russia,” Mr Melnikov said.

The Times