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Leaked emails have revealed the opulent luxury of a compound that has been linked to Putin.
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An investigation connected the property to numerous others, all linked back to the Russian president.
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Blueprints and renderings describe millions of dollars’ worth of extravagant fittings.
Blueprints and architect’s renderings from leaked emails have given a glimpse of an opulent Russian property nicknamed “Putin’s cottage.”
The details came from an investigation by The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Russian news outlet Meduza. They describe an extravagant, secluded compound on Lake Ladoga, northwest Russia.
The Kremlin has denied any connection to the property, which, per the investigation, is on 420 hectares of private land and houses three separate buildings.
The most famous of the three is a striking, award-winning building called “The Fisherman’s Hut,” the outlets reported.
Locals nicknamed it “Putin’s dacha,” using the Russian word for a cottage or country retreat. It appeared to be common assumption locally that President Vladimir Putin was using it, OCCRP reported.
In 2016, a report by the now-banned Russian outlet TV Rain found that close Putin ally Yury Kovalchuk bought the land.
The OCCRP/Meduza investigation said it is connected to dozens of other Putin-linked properties,, which form an apparent network to furnish the Russian leader with riches without him technically owning them.
In response to the investigation, the Kremlin told the OCCRP: “The President of the Russian Federation is not linked or affiliated in any way with the assets and organizations you mentioned.”
An artificial waterfall and bathrooms with $4,600 shower handles
According to the investigation, the leaked emails reveal features of the properties, including:
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Three pools, including one with its own decorative waterfall
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A 200 square-meter open plan dining area with restaurant-style kitchen including a tandoor, a Japanese-style teppan, and a smokehouse
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A private brewery stocked with $363,000 worth of Austrian brewing equipment
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A trout farm and cattle farm raising Kobe beef
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A $110,000 solid floor made of Fior di Bosco marble
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A brass counter with a top made of solid labradorite, an iridescent semi-precious stone
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Six bathrooms whose constructions were priced at $46,000, with bidet faucets costing $10,800 each and shower handles at $4,600
“You can build such a project only with an unlimited budget,” one anonymous architect told OCCRP.
A common email server links “Putin’s cottage” to others
OCCRP and Meduza obtained a cache of thousands of emails that suggest a common business connection between a wide range of luxury properties and assets in Russia, occupied Crimea, and beyond.
That collection of yachts, wineries, palaces and villas — including the compound on Lake Ladoga — had often been linked to Putin and his inner circle in previous reporting.
But the investigation found that most of these seemingly disparate business interests used a common email server — LLCInvest.ru — or used the same exclusive private bank.
Its surrounding 420 hectares of land belong to LLC Invest, and the company that owns the building itself —called Prime — uses the LLCInvest.ru email domain, the investigation found.
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