Vladimir Putin has revamped his £1 billion clifftop palace, getting rid of his pole-dancing boudoir and installing a church with a ‘throne’ for his personal use.
The dictator, 71, was stung when investigative journalists working with Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation (FBK) discovered the gaudy Gelendzhik castle overlooking the Black Sea three years ago.
Amid a scandal over misuse of state funds, the Kremlin claimed it belonged instead to his childhood friend Arkady Rotenburg, 72, who told reporters he was creating a sumptuous ‘apart-hotel’.
But Putin-watchers saw this as a smokescreen and now a new leak appears to show the changing tastes of the dictator amid an opulent makeover of the sprawling palace, which includes a 16-storey underground complex built into the cliff-face that has drawn comparisons with a James Bond villain’s lair.
The latest embarrassing disclosures about the palace come as Putin is today inaugurated as Russian president for the fifth time following his ‘victory’ in a March election widely seen as rigged.
As part of the makeover, Putin had a gilded altar installed with decorative marble columns
Navalny’s team previously shared a photo they claimed showed a strip pole in the house
Dug into the sprawling countryside of Gelendzhik, Putin’s opulent £1billion palace
A swanky new remodelling brings together elements from antiquity and modern stylings
Past renderings shared by Navalny’s team show what was described as a private bar
The Russian president’s notorious striptease stage and pole-dancing hookah hall, casino, gaming room and ‘aqua disco’ – for which he was mocked and shamed in the 2021 disclosure – are out.
Commentators speculated the accoutrements were not in keeping with his recent push for Russians to embrace traditional values.
READ MORE: Paranoid Putin’s Black Sea bunker revealed: Plans show network of James Bond-style blast-proof tunnels 160ft beneath sprawling £1billion cliff-side mansion capable of supporting VIPs for weeks
Out, too, is the garish gold ornaments and decorations noted in the previous exposé of the palace.
Instead, the property has been furnished with a traditional church complete with its own wooden throne for Putin, along with sacred religious icons and images.
One depicts canonised Prince Vladimir the Great – the same name as Putin, and his historical hero – who more than one thousand years ago was credited with uniting Ukraine and Russia.
‘This is probably the only room where the name of the real owner of this palace is directly indicated,’ said the investigation by outlets FBK – formerly associated with ‘murdered’ opposition leader Alexei Navalny – and independent Russian outlet Proekt.
Putin’s personal church takes centre stage with a gilded altar, marble floor mural, and a wash of dark green patterns on the walls to provide a sensible, sober feel.
It is a world away from previously leaked computer generated images revealing plans for a hookah room in the palace, complete with strip pole and sofas.
Epic paintings of historical war scenes have appeared – showing a heroic Russia, for example at the 1812 Battle of Borodino when Napoleon suffered grievous losses.
One includes part of a prominent Kremlin painting called ‘Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword!’
The latest investigation into the palace renovation was based on disclosures from a worker on the palace redesign who slipped his FSB minders to film the gargantuan palace dripping in luxury.
The probe with inside sources confirms this is no apart-hotel, as written on the paperwork, but ‘a palace built for Vladimir Putin’.
Computer generated renderings of plans for a strip or hookah room at the ‘palace’
The renderings stand in stark contrast to scenes from the remodelling, featuring marble floors and a carved wooden chair
Putin’s renovation (left) has mirrored his Kremlin desk (right) design, with four phones by his side
Putin working at his desk, location unknown, complete with multiple phones to his left
A room dubbed an ‘aqua disco’ in Putin’s Palace in Gelendzhik by the Black Sea
Footage recorded inside the house appeared to show a hot tub in the remodelled home
From the outside, another water feature fills the space, surrounded by columns
It revealed: ‘The reconstruction of the facility was carried out in the strictest secrecy.
‘Workers were transported to work on chartered buses, but were often not immediately allowed onto the premises.
‘They arrived at the checkpoint but were forced to wait for several hours without food or water.
‘Apparently someone important had arrived, they concluded. Inside, they prohibited the use of telephones.’
Secret services officers are said to have constantly monitored their work as they conducted renovations.
The FBK and Proekt reports added: ‘Shortly before the end of the work, one of the builders walked around the almost-finished palace.
‘Contrary to strict prohibitions, this man brought a phone inside and…filmed the second floor, on which there are 11 bedrooms, and then went down to the first – the one where there used to be rooms with a pole, a casino, a gaming area and an aqua discotheque.’
These had been replaced, it concluded, while the church had appeared.
They found French carpets costing £87,000 ‘in this type of Louis XVI’ and chandeliers valued at ten times this amount.
Video showed how the building had been modelled in a completely new direction, drawing inspiration from antiquity and featuring reminders of Russia’s imperial past.
In a sitting area, earthy tones contrasted sprawling rugs with traditional, colourful designs.
Towering mirrors gave extra depth to a large room of high-ceilinged white walls otherwise only punctuated by landscapes of Russia’s warring victories.
War heroes also featured prominently in the President’s personal palace, pictured in oval portraits around the house.
Renderings shared by Navalny’s team once purported to show a hookah lounge in the house
Today the house looks very different, with depictions of religious icons and sparse decor
Part of the new interior at the renovated Gelendzhik Palace (on the left) copies Kremlin’s interior, seen during Vladimir Putin’s 2018 inauguration (on the right)
The revamp draws inspiration from antiquity, brought to life with colourful paintings and stunning chandeliers
French carpets priced at £87,000 each to be featured in Putin’s opulent new revamp
A swimming pool inside the high-ceilinged £1billion getaway near the Black Sea
Navalny’s team from FBK exposed the scandal over the secret cliff top residence in a 2021 film called ‘Palace for Putin. The story of the biggest bribe.’
In that reveal, a mining engineer who worked on the construction of the clifftop palace said it had indeed been built for the president and ‘there is a whole anthill in the rock under the house’ including a nuclear shelter.
The subterranean maze includes a cliff face balcony overlooking the sea and a vast wine cellar.
Its construction was more ingenious than Dr No’s bunker in James Bond, he said.
It was ‘a balcony – literally a loggia hanging over the sea’ built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy wine tasting from the palace stocks, he said.
In August 2023, General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, once close to Putin, who was keeper of the secrets about the palace’s construction died mysteriously in jail.
He suddenly became ill – gasping for breath – and was told by doctors he had previously undiagnosed leukaemia.
Suspicions arose that he was poisoned just as he became eligible for parole.
The general was jailed for ten years in 2017 by a military court accused of bribe-taking and illegal possession of ammunition – charges he always denied.