An investigation by Alexei Navalny’s Anticorruption Foundation (FBK) has revealed new details about another of Vladimir Putin’s alleged lavish residences, complete with stables, a golf course and an expansive spa complex that includes a cryotherapy room.
Using satellite images and drones, company recordings, photographs and other data, investigators released floor plans and some of the first photos of an extended residence near Valdai, which they said was Putin’s favorite and most secretive.
They claimed that the residence was partially rented from one of Putin’s closest allies for taxpayers’ money. While some of the lakeside properties are state-owned and intended for official use, a more generous section with a mansion has been privately developed, which is described as a playground for the health-conscious head of state. .
In particular, the investigation focuses on a 7,000-square-meter (75,000-square-meter) spa complex whose plans feature a floating pool, massage rooms, a pool and other facilities such as a cryotherapy room with extremely high-quality treatment. cold, which are rented from a company that is supposed to belong to one of Putin’s close friends.
The company’s statements showed that the owner of the complex has made over 2.7 billion rubles (25.8 million pounds) in the last decade.
The investigation has been launched because Navalny remains on hunger strike in a Russian prison, and his supporters are being pressured by the government not to continue protests against his two-and-a-half-year sentence for embezzlement charges.
The emails of more than 500,000 Navalny supporters, many of whom signed up online to take part in new anti-Kremlin protests, were sent to reporters this week by an anonymous group. who called the Navalny team “defeated” and claimed that the database was heavily populated with robots.
Navalny’s team confirmed that the leaked database was real, but did not say whether any of the emails were managed by automated accounts. He apologized to those on the list, saying the leak contained only emails and no other personal information. The leak came as Navalny’s team approached the collection of 500,000 signatures online to launch new protests demanding the freedom of the opposition leader.
“[The database] it is real, unlike the forgeries that were launched earlier, “wrote Ivan Zhdanov, the group’s director. “It’s happening now, when the campaign needs only 70,000 more signatures and every confirmation to participate in the protest is much harder for us to collect.”
Navalny, in a message posted online on Friday, said he would be threatened with being forcibly fed in a straitjacket unless he went on a hunger strike in protest of his treatment in a Russian prison. . He asked to be seen by his doctor for numbness related to his back and legs, which he says could be related to the attempt to poison his life that took place last year.
His wife earlier this week said he looked weak during his meeting with her and had lost about 16kg since reaching a prison colony about 60 miles east of Moscow last month.
“He is still as cheerful and optimistic as ever,” Yulia Navalnaya wrote in an online post on Wednesday. “He speaks with difficulty, however, and from time to time he hangs up the phone and leans on the table to take a break. He lost a lot of weight … and weighs 76 kg. ”
Part of the Kremlin’s anger was sparked by a previous investigation into a Black Sea cabin that is said to have cost nearly £ 1 billion and was set for the president’s special use, although recent photos suggest that it was no longer in use. This residence included flowers, such as an “aquatic disco” and a wine cave carved into a rock overlooking the Black Sea.
The investigation into that residence, which was dubbed Putin’s Palace, came after Navalny’s arrest on his return to Russia in January and showed that the opposition leader remained a danger to the Kremlin even behind bars.
The authors of the new investigation ended it with a call for his release. “Putin illegally imprisoned Navalny because he told the truth about his corruption, lies and duplicity. We will continue to tell this truth. ”