Investigators find new Putin palace in Crimea with private clinic – photos, video

Investigators from Russia's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) have uncovered a new palace belonging to Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the Black Sea coast – this time in temporarily occupied Crimea. The newly revealed Putin estate reportedly includes a private clinic with an operating theatre, a vast spa complex, and a helipad.

Source: FBK

Quote: "At first, there was a building belonging to the Mys Aya sanatorium on the site of this palace. Later, Viktor Yanukovych [Ukrainian pro-Russian former president – ed.] took a liking to the place and demolished everything there, cut down relict trees, and began building himself a summer residence. After Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, Yanukovych's property was seized and transferred into state ownership. Now there is a real palace here."

Details: According to FBK, the main building has a floor area of more than 9,000 square metres, while the guest house covers nearly 5,000 sq m. The site also includes separate buildings for staff, technical facilities and a newly built helipad. Below the estate lie a private promenade, a pier and an artificial white-sand beach.

FBK estimates the construction cost at around RUB 10 billion (almost US$130 million).

"This palace was built with the same money and using the same 'wallet' scheme as the palace in Gelendzhik. On paper, the property is registered through a chain of companies. The nominal owner is listed as LLC Bereg, linked to the company Golden Gate, whose owners are classified. The same lawyers – Belkin, Ulyanov and Shakhov – appear in the powers of attorney as in the Gelendzhik palace case. The technical specifications for the interiors explicitly include requirements from the Federal Protective Service, which rules out the version of a 'private summerhouse': the Federal Protective Service protects only the president," the investigation says.

The key contractor was the management company Credo, which has previously built and serviced both official and unofficial Putin residences in Gelendzhik, Valdai and Krasnaya Polyana.

The investigators published floor plans and interior photographs of the palace, including the main residence and the guest house.

In the main building, the top floor features a huge bedroom, in the far corner of which stands an air irradiation–recirculation unit – equipment commonly used in hospitals and clinics. Such devices, which contain ultraviolet lamps to disinfect the air by killing bacteria and viruses, have previously been observed in Putin's office and his Kremlin apartment.

The investigators published floor plans and photographs of the palace interiors, including both the main residence and the guest house.

The vast bathrooms – each measuring around 50 sq m – feature marble floors and walls, while the staircases, handrails and jacuzzis are gilded.

The FBK notes that taps, clothes hooks and toilet paper holders alone – shaped like roses in one bathroom and dragons in another – cost more than RUB 22 million (over US$280,000).

One floor below is a private hospital. It includes a general practitioner's office equipped with an ultrasound scanner, massage table, laboratory testing equipment, electrocardiograph and physiotherapy devices, as well as a dentist's office with a dental unit, X-ray machine, surgical dental microscope and ultrasound equipment.

The same floor also houses an operating theatre fitted with a ventilator, defibrillator monitor, anaesthesia machine, patient monitoring systems, X-ray equipment, and devices for gastroscopy and colonoscopy.

According to the investigation, Putin's medical centre also includes washing and sterilisation rooms, oxygen concentrator facilities, medical waste storage areas and a pre-operative room containing more than 300 pieces of medical equipment and instruments.

On the same floor, in the left wing, there is a spa complex featuring a swimming pool, a giant television screen, contrast plunge pools (which, the investigators note, are present in all of Putin's palaces), a shower costing RUB 6 million (around US$77,000), a hammam, a dry floating therapy room, a massage room with, among other things, a foot-washing chair and a cryotherapy chamber.

The basement level contains an entertainment area with an eight-seat cinema, a club, a billiards room, a cigar lounge and a wine cellar (or tasting room with refrigerators for jamón and cheese), a giant concave aquarium measuring three metres high and five metres wide, an outdoor swimming pool and an aquadisco [music-synchronised fountain pool – ed.].

Background:

• In 2021, the Russian organisation the Anti-Corruption Foundation published a video about the official but secret country residence of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin on Lake Valdai in Novgorod Oblast. The group said that Putin had four residences: the Kremlin, Novo-Ogaryovo in Moscow Oblast, Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi, and Dolgye Borody (Valdai or Uzhin) in Novgorod Oblast.
• In 2023, the investigative media outlet Proekt (Project) reported that a secret railway line and a network of stations had been built for Putin, leading to his residences.
• In April 2023, it became known that a Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile and gun system had been installed at Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi, where one of Putin's secret residences is located.
• In October 2024, the main building at Putin's residence in Sochi was demolished, reportedly because he had become afraid to visit the resort following Ukrainian drone attacks.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!