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I hope nobody is taking lessons from Vladimir Putin on how to hide your houses, superyachts, and mistresses (while you wage war and dodge the law).

The Russian president’s enemies – such as the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), as well as the UK, EU, and US sanction authorities – are on his case.

Thousands of leaked emails sent by two construction companies have been obtained by the OCCRP revealing the truth behind what has been humbly dubbed the “Fisherman’s Hut”, or otherwise, “Putin’s dacha” or holiday home in the wooded area of the northern Russian region of Karelia.

It is anything but humble, though, per The Guardian, revealing how it is actually at “a level of extravagance that would put the tsars to shame”:

There are the bidets that cost $10 800 (R170 000) each and the $4 600 (R73 000) a piece shower heads. Then there is floor made up of $110 000 (R1,7 million) worth of Fior di Bosco marble and the indoor pool with a decorative waterfall flowing from the first floor. No expense has been spared. And that, according to leaked emails, is merely the “Garden House”.

A single bidet costing in excess of $10 000? That’s taking the piss.

Here’s an illustration from an architecture brochure of the Garden House neighbouring the Fisherman’s Hut:

Image: The Guardian

While Putin has only officially registered a few belongings with the US government – a small flat in St Petersburg, two Soviet-era cars, a trailer and a small garage, plus a presidential salary of about £110 000 a year – he has secret assets hidden in far-out areas, well protected by shady dealings, business proxies, and Federal Protection Service guards.

One of the houses on this property in question has a roof covered in grass and a helipad, an apparent “nod to the need to keep out of sight of western spies in the sky”.

Of course, the president and his people strongly deny any association with the complex, but the emails paint a different picture entirely.

Head here for more on how Putin has covered his tracks, registering the Fisherman’s Hut under a company connected to an email domain name that links to Putin’s ally and the major shareholder of Bank Rossiya, nicknamed “Putin’s Bank”.

The business side of things is fascinating, but then again, the private brewery and Kobe beef cattle farm at this alleged dacha are far more interesting.

An architectural rendering of the Fisherman’s Hut:

Image: Architectural workshop of E.Yu.Merkuriev

Putin’s land has another building described in the Russian land registry in 2018 as a “barn” but really, its a completely kitted out modern two-storey building:

There is a private brewery fitted out with €345,000 (R5,7 million) worth of Austrian brewing equipment that can produce 47 litres of beer a day and a tea room overlooking Lake Ladoga on the second floor.

Construction also began last year on a separate two-storey building containing further kitchen facilities and storage space for fish, meat and vegetables. It has four modest bedrooms with folding beds which might be used to accommodate staff. There is also a nearby cattle farm, land records show, where steers are raised to produce Kobe beef, a local source said.

The emails suggest that the high-end Russian interior design agency, FullHouseDesign, was leading the project, where floorplans, blueprints, and interior design schemes revealed all the sumptuous details of the building.

Somewhere in this holiday home, there is something made of lapis lazuli, labradorite, and a luminous crystal said to relieve anxiety and stress.

It is hard being the war-mongering president of Russia, after all.

[source:guardian]