A video investigation by Russia’s leading opposition figure that claims President Vladimir Putin spent illicit funds on an extravagant Black Sea palace has reached more than 20 million people within a day of publication.
Alexei Navalny’s team released it after he was jailed on his return to Moscow.
The investigation alleges the property cost £1bn ($1.37bn) and was paid for “with the largest bribe in history”.
The Kremlin denies the property belongs to the president.
Claims that federal officials were guarding a vast palace complex on the Black Sea coast were “pure nonsense”, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Navalny investigation describes the property as 39 times the size of Monaco.
The report was released on Tuesday, two days after Mr Navalny flew back from Germany and was arrested at the airport.
He was placed in pre-trial detention for 30 days on Monday on a charge of violating probation terms for a suspended sentence for embezzlement that he maintains is politically motivated. A separate case against him was due to start on Wednesday but was postponed.
The report claims the property in the resort town of Gelendzhik was constructed using illicit funds provided by members of Mr Putin’s inner circle, including oil chiefs and billionaires.
“[They] built a palace for their boss with this money,” Mr Navalny says in the video.
It alleges that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) owns some 27 sq miles (70 sq km) of land surrounding the private residence.
Source: bbc.com
The post Alexei Navalny: Millions watch jailed critic’s ‘Putin palace’ film appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS