Big Oil Earns Billions Despite High Oil Prices
Putin’s money
Some Kremlin critics consider the sprawling, billion-dollar palace perched on a hill overlooking the Black Sea to be the ultimate symbol of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s corruption legacy.
The mega-mansion, measuring 190,000 sq. feet, is known as Putin’s Palace. It was allegedly built by billionaire oligarchs for their personal use. He allegedly allowed them to prosper in Russia’s notoriously corrupt economic system, so long that they shared the wealth.
According to an anti-corruption documentary made by Alexey Navalny, a jailed Russian opposition leader, the property also has an underground hockey rink, private seaport and its own amphitheater. The area is no-fly in the sky above, and no-boating in the waters around.
This magnificent fortress contrasts starkly with the small apartment of 800 square feet that Putin claimed in his 2020 financial disclosure.
But, despite the luxury of the retreat on the hilltop, “I would not be surprised if Putin ever sets foot there again,” Nate Sibley (an expert on Russian corruption and a consultant to Congressmen) told CNN.
Sibley stated that the palace represents what he considers a bygone age of Putin living in a lavish lifestyle through the support of the oligarchs. This was something he couldn’t afford with his government salary.
Sibley stated that Putin may have accumulated a hidden fortune through such means earlier in his career. However, he is now less dependent on these wealthy benefactors and has instead surrounded himself with military and government loyalists who support his hardline nationalist views.
Some Russia experts said that this shift may make it harder for Putin to feel the pain of the economic sanctions the US, its European allies, imposed on him to punish his actions in invading Ukraine.
Putin is, in the words of Sibley, “above and beyond the fray.”
To learn more about the Russian leader’s wealth, visit the complete story by Curt Devine and Casey Tolan, CNN. Majlie de Puy Kamp.
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