Vladimir Putin‘s lover was reportedly given £63million in surplus funds after the construction of the Russian leader’s £1billion palace.
Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast, has been rumoured to be in a romantic relationship with Putin, with speculation going back to 2008.
Although the pair have never acknowledged their relationship publicly, Kabaeva is reportedly the mother of Putin’s two sons, born in 2015 and 2019.
FBK, an organisation set up by late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, first uncovered the luxury property located near the resort town of Gelendzhik in 2021.
Putin and the Kremlin have denied the estate belongs to the president, and it is officially owned by a firm called ‘Investment Solutions’ through a web of shell companies.
Three of Putin’s closest associates are shareholders: former classmate Viktor Khmarin, lawyer Nikolai Egorov and businessman Ilham Rahimov.
Bank records showed that ‘Investment Solutions’ received loans from offshore entities in the British Virgin Islands, moving the money down the chain to fund construction of the palace, according to FBK.
Now, a new investigation by the organisation revealed that leftover funds from the construction of Putin’s palace were donated to two of Kabaeva’s charities.
Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast, was rumoured to be in a romantic relationship with Putin, with speculation going back to 2008
The massive estate reportedly has ‘a balcony hanging over the sea’ built into the cliff
When construction finished in 2023, 6.5 billion rubles (£63million) in excess cash remained.
Three billion rubles (£29million) were immediately donated to the Alina Kabaeva Charitable Foundation, which worked to support female athletes and organised a gymnastics festival, as well as helped restore a church in occupied Crimea.
However, Navalny’s group says the charitable work only amounted to tens of millions of rubles, while the rest of the money was stashed away in a deposit account.
The remaining 3.5 billion rubles (£34million) went to another non profit run by Kabaeva, called ‘Heavenly Grace.’
The charity reportedly spent 30 million rubles (£288,000) at the at the Imperial Peterhof luxury watch factory, independent Russian news website Meduza reports.
The money also went towards funding gymnastics camps in the Novgorod region, which the FBK says was a cover to provide Putin and Kabaeva’s children a chance to play with others their own age.
The majority of cash, however, was also placed in a deposit account, which apparently earned 435 million rubles (£4million) in interest in 2024 alone.
The anti-corruption group concluded that these charities were nothing more than ‘slush funds’ used to finance Putin and his secret family’s lifestyle ‘under the guise of philanthropy.’
The massive Gelendzhik estate reportedly has ‘a balcony hanging over the sea’ built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy wine tasting from the palace stocks, according to one man who worked on its construction.
Compared to the lair of a James Bond villain, it also featured a striptease stage and pole-dancing hookah hall, before a renovation completely revamped the design.
The residence featured a striptease stage and pole-dancing hookah hall, before a renovation completely revamped the design
Within the palace is a wooden throne for Putin, along with sacred religious icons and images
A May 2024 investigation by FBK found that the palace had been renovated to include a church, with its own wooden throne for Putin, along with sacred religious icons and images.
In December of last year, Putin was accused of secretly grabbing an ultra-luxury £100 million palace on the edge of a cliff in occupied Crimea — complete with a private hospital, operating theatre, cryochamber and gold-plated bathroom fittings.
The sprawling complex, hidden at Cape Aya at the southern tip of the Black Sea peninsula, was originally built for ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
It has since been transformed into what investigators describe as ‘a huge palace’ belonging to the Russian dictator.
The main house alone measures 96,875 square feet, with a second cliff-side building of nearly 53,820 square feet hidden beneath landscaped gardens.
There is a private promenade, pier, and artificial beach with white sand, while a new helipad sits higher up the slope.
The interiors, according to project documents and photographs, are lavish even by Putin’s standards at his other palaces including Valdai and Gelendzhik.
The main Putin bedroom alone measures 2,600 sq ft with a 538 sq ft bathroom, and bathroom fittings shaped like flowers cost the equivalent of £28,330 investigators say.
An entire floor comprises a private hospital – a feature also noted at his other palaces, raising questions over the 73-year-old depot’s health.
It comprises of a GP’s consulting room, an ENT doctor’s office, a dental surgery and a full scale operating theatre – equipped by state of the art German and Finnish medical devices.
According to financial records examined by Navalny’s team, the palace was funded through the same network used for Putin’s Gelendzhik estate.
