A luxury mansion linked to Vladimir Putin in Siberia has been removed from a Russian online map site following an outcry over the president’s £1billion Black Sea palace.
An £87 million hunting and fishing retreat beside the Yenisei River was previously visible on online Yandex Maps.
But it has recently vanished from maps on this Russian search engine in an alleged bid to ‘hide’ its existence, say reports today.
The heavily-guarded timber Siberian bolt hole in the Krasnoyarsk region remains visible on Google Maps.
The revelation comes as the FSB counterintelligence service claimed NATO has been spying on the area around the £1billion Gelendzhik Palace close to the Black Sea.
Putin’s jailed foe Alexei Navalny revealed the palace’s jaw-dropping luxury and claimed it had its own Russian border post, and was covered by a strict no-fly zone.
An architectural render shows Putin’s heavily-guarded timber mansion in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region
The £87million timber bolt-hole has vanished from Russia’s Yandex Maps in an apparent bid to hide its existence
Putin’s timber mansion has been removed from Russian Yandex Maps in an alleged bid to hide its existence
Putin has denied the palace is in his name yet, despite this, the FSB has now appeared to acknowledge it is the subject of snooping by NATO spooks in the sky.
The no-fly zone was established due to ‘the increased intelligence activity of a number of neighbouring states, including those belonging to the NATO bloc’, it said in a statement to RBC media.
It had been put in place last summer in the interests of border security, according to the FSB.
The Western interest was focused on the FSB border post at Gelendzhik, it was stated, not giving further details.
The Russian intelligence service, the FSB, claims that NATO has been spying on the area around the £1billion Gelendzhik Palace close to the Black Sea
The palace, close to the Black Sea, has its own no-fly zone due to ‘increased intelligence activity’ from neighbouring NATO states, the FSB said
Putin’s jailed foe Alexei Navalny revealed the splendour of the palace after he returned to Russia following a suspected poisoning with the novichok nerve agent. Putin has denied the palace is in his name
The separate forest getaway in Siberia – four time zones east of Moscow and with a 680 acre estate – is reported to be used by Putin, 68, and his close associate and former KGB colleague Igor Sechin, 60, who now heads Rosneft oil giant which built the complex, but was earlier a top official in the Kremlin.
The mansion is reported to be 32,300 square feet with a helipad and chapel, along with its own herd of Maral deer.
‘Security guards on motor boats kick out unwelcome fishermen from ‘territorial waters’ referring to ‘big people’ fishing in the private area,’ said a report by TSUR media revealing the mansion’s existence.
The Yenisei is the fifth longest river in the world.
‘Rosneft’s chief loves hunting, the head of state Vladimir Putin prefers fishing,’ said the original report on the complex.
The £87million mansion in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region is said to be heavily guarded. It is protected by four security checkpoints each with 11 guards
‘Everything is ready for that on the Yenisei’s shore.’
The estate – officially a sports and recreation facility – is protected by four security checkpoints each with 11 guards.
‘It is not clear why a sports and recreation complex would need such measures,’ said TSUR.
But it was clear Putin would ‘not need to worry about security’ visiting the far-flung dacha (country house).
The Federal Security Service has denied claims that it guarded the Gelendzhik palace.
Putin said of Navalny’s allegations about the Black Sea palace with a hookah boudoir equipped for pole-dancing: ‘Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did.’
Navalny was ‘brainwashing’ Russians, he claimed.
The jailed opposition leader claimed the palace had been funded without their knowledge by Russian taxpayers.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted the Kremlin knows the owners of the palace are but does not have the right to reveal their names.
