‘Putin’s Palace’ Pole-Dancing Room Refashioned into a Church: Photos

An extravagant residence on Russia’s Black Sea coast purportedly used by Russian President Vladimir Putin as his “palace” has been refashioned to include a church equipped with a throne, according to an independent investigative outlet.

Russian outlet Proekt said an investigation published on Monday that video footage and illustrations it received of the recently renovated interior of one of Putin’s luxury residences—the Gelendzhik Palace near Sochi, southern Russia—suggests Putin “seems to be obsessed with war and religion.”

The residence became known as “Putin’s Palace” after an investigation by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2021 that uncovered the residence, the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, which has close ties to Russian security forces, said. Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

“Many viewers of Navalny’s video remembered the entertainment areas—with a pole, a casino, as well as a room with toy cars and a railway,” Proekt said, noting that none of these areas exist anymore.

“Here’s how they’ve changed,” the outlet said.

The residence has been renovated to include a home church featuring a triptych and a wooden throne, Proekt said. The walls of the room are decorated with crosses, and the triptych appears to depict a “Saint Prince Vladimir,” two art historians and one icon painter said.

“By the way, back in the Middle Ages in [Russia] there was a tradition of painting patronal icons for rulers, which over time began to be placed in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Putin traditionally visits this place after his inauguration,” the outlet added.

The wooden throne in the church is either intended either for a high-ranking church hierarch, or suggests that the owner of the church has “a fairly high idea of himself and his importance.”

Proekt noted that the reading room in the “palace” has been decorated with two chandeliers made using red crystals from the French manufacturer Baccarat, which in total cost about 100 million rubles (about $1 million).

Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) first published a lengthy video in 2021 investigating the billion-dollar property. The video said the property cost $1.35 billion and alleges it was paid for via an elaborate corruption scheme in which Putin gave top jobs and lucrative government projects to his allies at partially state-owned energy giants.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the claims in the report at the time as “pure nonsense.”

Maria Pevchikh, head of investigations and chair of the board of directors of the FBK, said on X, formerly Twitter, that publishing the most recent photos is important because “Putin is obsessed with his own security.”

“Putin does not use other people’s dishes. Doesn’t go without an army of guards. Does not go to the toilet in public places,” she said on Monday. “By publishing footage from inside his palace and floor plans, we make it impossible to use the palace.”

“Perhaps he will say to demolish everything again. And the palace will be rebuilt for the third time. But this iteration is definitely over. There was a palace – there is no palace. We have once again shown not only that he is a luxury-obsessed psychopath, but also that his security system is complete crap,” Pevchikh added.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.