Have you ever wondered where the paranoid Russian president might run to if he had to leave the Kremlin in a hurry? It turns out that he will shut himself up in his most secret hideout in southern Russia. Leaked documents have now revealed his fortified bunker in the Black Sea, which lies beneath his lavish $1.5 billion palace. This is what the ‘Business Insider’ reveals.
The palace is located in the city of Glandzhik on the coast of the Black Sea, in the southern part of the Krasnodar region in Russia. The sprawling mansion, the size of London’s Buckingham Palace, is said to be “Russia’s best-kept place and Putin’s biggest secret” revealed by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The place has a swimming pool, spa, saunas, bar, theater, cinema, wine cellar, casino, guest house and even its own gas station.
The huge and flamboyant palace is 50 meters underground. Drawings of the landscaped property show Putin built an underground pit. Documents previously posted online by a now-defunct Russian construction company revealed the tyrant’s lair. The drawings showed a complex network of fireproof tunnels encased in thick concrete and moisture-proof materials that also protect against a nuclear bomb.
Two separate passageways are connected by an elevator that descends approximately 50 meters underground – with escape routes. The tunnels are supplied with enough fresh water, ventilation and electricity to sustain its occupants for weeks.
Structural engineer Thaddeus Gabrishevsky said there are “all kinds of security” there, meaning they are “designed to survive or escape.” It’s the perfect disaster hideout for the paranoid Putin. The tunnels, which stretch up to 60 meters in length, include about 6,500 square feet of living space and can be used as a command post.
The palace is surrounded by approximately 17,000 dunams of land owned by the Russian Security Service, and is secured around the clock. The area is no-fly zone, and its design has been hidden from the world. The place has a marina and helicopters for Putin’s private use to ensure an easy route to his sanctuary, plus there is a railroad, another secret means of transportation.
The huge palace was secretly built near the Black Sea coast in the Prskovievka estate and is 39 times the size of the Principality of Monaco. Opposition figure Alexei Navalny claimed he was given exclusive access to secret plans for the mansion with the help of contractors who were paid to renovate it. He said: “It’s not a country house, not a cottage, not a residence. It’s a whole city, or rather a kingdom.”
