Anti-Corruption Foundation exposes Putin’s new palace in Crimea — with its own fully-equipped private hospital

The Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), founded by the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has revealed the existence of yet another luxury palace linked to Vladimir Putin, this one on Cape Aya in Crimea. According to the investigation, the foundation obtained photographs of the secret property as well as detailed architectural plans. The cost of building the palace is estimated at about 10 billion rubles (roughly $125 million).

The compound was originally built as a “dacha for Viktor Yanukovych,” Ukraine’s former president, but after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the new authorities determined that the project lacked the proper documents. It was then transferred to the Kovalchuk brothers, longtime associates of Putin, and rebuilt in line with requirements set by Russia’s Federal Protective Service.

“This is no longer a dacha, but a huge palace,” the foundation said. “It only remotely resembles what was known in 2014 as the ‘Yanukovych dacha.’ Compared with what has now been built on Cape Aya, the Yanukovych dacha looks like a shack.”

According to the investigation, the complex features lavish interiors, a private medical center, a spa, a cryotherapy chamber, a helipad, an extensive private waterfront, and round-the-clock security. Technical facilities, buildings for staff, and an additional helipad are located higher up the slope.

The ACF published photographs of the interiors, including a ceremonial hall measuring 233 square meters (about 2,500 square feet):

A bedroom of 154 square meters:

As well as a 50-square-meter bathroom fitted with faucets costing nearly 3 million rubles ($38,000). Project documents show the bathroom contains 15 fittings with a combined price exceeding 11 million rubles ($140,000):

One floor below, the palace has a private hospital. It includes a “general practitioner’s office” equipped with an ultrasound machine costing about 2 million rubles ($25,500), examination and massage tables, laboratory testing equipment, an electrocardiograph and physiotherapy devices. Nearby is a dental office, and farther down the corridor is an operating room with a surgical table priced at 4 million rubles ($51,000), a ventilator, a defibrillator-monitor, anesthesia equipment, patient monitoring systems, an X-ray machine, and devices for gastroscopy and colonoscopy.

The left wing of the same floor houses a spa center, including a swimming pool.

The foundation said the construction was financed in part by Vladimir Kolbin, the son of Putin’s childhood friend Pyotr Kolbin.

“Vladimir Kolbin paid for the construction of a winery at Putin's palace in Gelendzhik. We also found out that he gave 405 million rubles ($5.2 million) for the Crimean dacha. The company Aratron turned out to be the main sponsor of the construction on Cape Aya. This company transferred 3.6 billion rubles ($45.8 million)to the account of Bereg LLC [which owns the property]. And, of course, Kovalchuk and his network of offshore companies — Forstis — also participated in the Crimean construction project: almost 2 billion rubles ($25.5 million)came from this offshore company.”

The investigators concluded that Putin’s palace on Cape Aya was built using the exact same sources of funding as Putin’s palace near Gelendzhik.