Putin's secret country compound revealed just 18 miles away from NATO country
Construction on the compound in Karelia near the border with Finland started 10 years ago when Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly paid locals to vacate the land.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has allegedly sectioned off a plot of land just 18 miles from the border of a NATO member state, according to an independent Russian outlet.
"It is not known for certain what exactly this site is for, but judging by satellite images, it appeared in the last couple of years," Dossier Centre journalist Ilya Rozhdestvenskiy said in a video of the stunning compound.
"It is possible that an air defense system is being displayed here…" Rozhdestvenskiy noted. "This is not the first time that marks on the ground - from the supports of military equipment deployed in combat positions from the air - have protected the president."
The compound in Karelia, a territory that borders Finland, includes a one-square kilometer (just shy of 250 acres) plot of land, surrounded by an additional three-square kilometers (around 750 acres) of fenced-in forest – an area equivalent to twice the area of Monaco, according to Radio Svoboda.
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Putin shares the deluxe compound with his 40-year-old gymnast lover Alina Kabaeva, a winner of bronze and gold medals in consecutive Olympics for Rhythmic Gymnastics in 2000 and 2004, respectively. She later won election to the Duma as a member of the United Russia Party.
The journalist describes a barn on the property as a "reception house," and the residence includes a brewery, tearoom and a "pool or fountain." The compound also hosts a bathhouse, a fishery and farm, a marbled beef farm and private access to a waterfall and lake.
He also claims the compound as a "separate underground entrance, a helipad and a pier for yachts" on the adjacent Lake Ladoga, allowing Putin to "enjoy nature in complete solitude."
Historian and journalist Mikhail Solomatin in 2011 posted a story on his blog about how a group of people, in the presence of a lawyer, confiscated the land on Lake Ladoga as part of a "recreation center" construction, insisting the land must be given away, Russian weekly newspaper Sobesednik reported.
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A fisherman who visited the site shortly after found a security detail that stopped him and demanded documents and conducted an interrogation about the purpose of his trip. Locals living in the area moved away in exchange for cash payments.
The land around the property remains fenced in and monitored by CCTV cameras and motion sensors mounted on a fence and overlooking stretches of barbed wire.
Putin can even just go two miles down the road to dine at a restaurant and relax in a spa owned by his trusted oligarch and former Chelsea F.C. owner Roman Abramovich, who has a compound neighboring the Russian president’s own.
Yuri Kovalchuk, a close Putin ally rumored to be his "personal banker," owns a hotel nearby the compound as well. His businesses largely attend to Putin’s leisure activities, overseeing his real estate properties, according to East2West.
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