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Italy won't say who's paying for the care of a $700 million superyacht tied to Putin

Dustin Jones

The Scheherazade, a 460-foot superyacht, has been held in Italy since May 2022 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is believed to have ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Laura Lezza/Getty Images hide caption

The Scheherazade, a 460-foot superyacht, has been held in Italy since May 2022 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is believed to have ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Scheherazade superyacht was impounded by the Italian government in May 2022 in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Instead of falling into disrepair, Italy has allowed its owner to maintain and refit the vessel, but it won't disclose who is footing the bill.

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the vessel has been held at port in Marina di Carrara, located almost 90 miles northwest of Florence, since it was impounded by authorities in the spring of 2022. For over a year, the Italian government has permitted the owner to continue paying for the ship's staff, its maintenance and refitting of the vessel. But Italy won't identify the owner.

Italy's Finance Ministry said in a May 2022 news release that the superyacht had "significant economic and business links" with "prominent elements of the Russian government" but didn't name the owner of the ship.

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According to the website SuperYachtFan , the 460-foot superyacht belongs to Russian billionaire Eduard Khudainatov. However, Bloomberg News reported in 2022 that he is a "straw owner" of the superyacht — as well as another ship — and that the Scheherazade actually belongs to Putin.

The Financial Times reported that the Scheherazade has 22 cabins, two helicopter decks and a spa and that it's being refitted by the Italian Sea Group. NPR reached out to the Italian Sea Group for comment but did not hear back before publication.

The United States created Task Force KleptoCapture in the wake of Putin's war against Ukraine, aiming to hold Russian oligarchs accountable for evading sanctions. In its one year of operation, the task force has brought charges to at least 35 individuals and entities, NPR previously reported.

Part of those efforts included seizing luxury items belonging to billionaires with ties to the Kremlin. This includes items like a 348-foot yacht seized in Fiji in May 2022, which is valued at about $300 million and is now sitting in San Diego.

Watch CBS News

Satellite image shows super yacht linked to Putin out of reach of sanctions

By Catherine Herridge , Michael Kaplan, Andrew Bast, Jessica Kegu

March 3, 2022 / 7:30 AM EST / CBS News

As Europe and the U.S. bear down with a raft of aggressive sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, the super yacht he is believed to own has found safe harbor in a highly militarized port in Russian territorial waters. In new satellite imagery obtained by CBS News, the yacht can be seen docked in a port in Kaliningrad, near Russia's nuclear weapons operations. 

Experts say Putin's luxury vessel has become a symbol not only of his vast hidden wealth, but also of how challenging that money has been to find. 

"He's a KGB agent, so he's crafty. He knows how to hide when he needs to," said John Smith, former director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers and enforces all foreign sanctions.

Data from MarineTraffic, a global intelligence group, shows Putin's alleged yacht, the Graceful, left Germany two weeks before the invasion of Ukraine . 

Putin's government salary is said to be about $140,000, but that doesn't begin to explain the mansions, million-dollar watch collection and over-the-top yacht. 

"It would be fair to say he's among the richest men in the world," Smith said. 

Though he sells himself as a man of the people, his wealth is estimated to be more than $100 billion. 

Putin's critics allege he also has a cliffside palace that includes an amphitheater and a personal tunnel to the beach that doubles as a security bunker. 

"Of course, he doesn't acknowledge it as being his own," Smith said. "It doesn't fit with the public persona that he's trying to create to actually acknowledge it." 

Putin relies on his oligarch friends to shield his fortune from sanctions, Smith said. 

"So if he asked them to do something, they do it in terms of hiding assets, squirreling them in different parts of the globe, they will do what he needs," he said. 

Those who have tried to expose Putin's fortune have done so at great personal risk. 

Putin critic Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on a bridge in the shadow of the Kremlin in 2015. Sergei Magnitsky died in 2009 under questionable circumstances in prison after he exposed $230 million in fraud by Putin's friends. Putin publicly condemned Nemtsov's murder and claimed Magnitsky died of a heart attack.  

His most recent No. 1 critic, Alexei Navalny , who helped expose Putin's lavish palace, emerged as a political rival and found himself repeatedly jailed. He nearly died after being poisoned two years ago, though Putin has denied responsibility for the poisoning. 

"Putin's wealth is one of the most dangerous topics," said Russian journalist Roman Badanin, who spent two decades investigating Putin's financial web. 

Badanin said Russian authorities sought to intimidate and silence his reporting team. Six months ago, he reached his breaking point. 

"I fled the country. My apartment was searched twice. I have like three criminal charges against me back in Russia," he said. 

In his State of the Union address, President Biden said the U.S. and its allies are waging economic war on Putin and Russian oligarchs. 

"We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments and your private jets," Biden said. 

On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced the formation of a new task force that would target Russian oligarchs. 

"Russia is not a transparent economy," Smith said. "The U.S. and our allies have decent information on some of [Putin's] assets, I think a lot will remain a mystery for a long time in the future." 

The biggest financial hit for Putin would be sanctions on the energy sector, which Smith says the Russian president has used to build up his wealth for years. So far, Washington and the Europeans have been hesitant to do that. 

• Vladimir Putin

Catherine Herridge is a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence based in Washington, D.C.

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Russian opposition group report says it's identified another superyacht belonging to Vladimir Putin

• A Russian military plant built Vladimir Putin a 71-meter superyacht, according to a new report.
• The report was written by the Dossier Center, a Russian opposition group funded by an exiled oligarch.
• Putin's rumored mistress often uses the yacht on vacation, according to the report.

Vladimir Putin's newest known superyacht is 71 meters long, cost an estimated $50 million to build, and can carry up to 28 people, according to a new report from Russian opposition group the Dossier Center.

The vessel, called the Victoria, is based in Sochi but in October docked at a Turkish port near Istanbul for repairs, according to ship tracking data cited in the report. Construction on the yacht began in 2005 at a Russian military facility that typically produces nuclear submarines, according to the report, citing unnamed sources close to Putin.

The Dossier Center, an investigative outlet funded by exiled petroleum oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky – by some estimates, once the richest man in Russia – last month revealed that Russia had accidentally doxed its own spies by uploading their addresses onto a public city hall website.

We found the secret yacht of Vladimir Putin docked at a naval shipyard of a NATO (!) country. How is this possible and what does it tell us about the character of his regime? 🧵 Read on to find out (and see pictures) - 1/18 pic.twitter.com/RhIzjmFbz3 — Mikhail Khodorkovsky (@khodorkovsky_en) November 22, 2023

Officially, Putin takes a salary of about $140,000 a year and lives in a small Moscow apartment – but extensive reporting shows the dictator almost certainly controls numerous estates and a small flotilla of luxury yachts . While there's no official estimate of his net worth, observers have pegged it in the tens of billions of dollars.

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, authorities seized a $700 million superyacht linked to Putin with six floors, two helipads, a swimming pool , a beauty salon, and gold-plated bathrooms.

Victoria is nowhere near as grand. It has just two master cabins, according to the Dossier Center's report. But it also has the distinction of being linked to former Russian gymnast Alina Kabaeva, rumored to be Putin's mistress and the father of his children.

Given how it looks like from inside – who wouldn't be tempted? 15/18 pic.twitter.com/pCCQ6YLqKd — Mikhail Khodorkovsky (@khodorkovsky_en) November 22, 2023

Kabaeva's friend, another Russian gymnast and the choreography director of a gymnastics festival Kabaeva organizes, posted a photo of herself on social media with the yacht in the background. And an anonymous source told The Dossier Center that Kabaeva often vacations on the Victoria.

Spokespeople for the Russian president and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Watch: Inside Putin's secret bunker and billion-dollar palace

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Alexei navalny exposed putin’s $1.4b mansion, $700m superyacht ‘to mobilize people to fight’: expert.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny rose to prominence capturing the hearts and minds of the Russian people at the same time that Vladimir Putin stole their votes.

Instead of self-imposed exile following a failed 2020 assassination attempt using Novichok poison, Navalny chose to bravely return to Russia in 2021, where he was arrested and paid the ultimate price, dying in a remote prison Friday .

Thanks to his fearless reporting and anti-corruption foundation — a non-profit that investigates corruption by high-ranking Russian officials — the world learned about all of the palaces, yachts and private planes that Putin’s oligarchs allegedly built for their tsar and themselves , with all the money they stole from the Russian people.

The oligarchs are really “Kremligarchs” because they are merely wealth handlers — and holders — for the Kremlin, anti-corruption and kleptocracy expert Ilya Zaslavsky told The Post Friday.

Navalny highlighted the corruption and kleptocracy that poisoned Russia and threatens the world.

He remains one of the only Putin foes to die in jail instead of at the hands of Kremlin assassins who operate inside and outside Russian borders — like Boris Nemtsov, a Putin rival assassinated in the shadow of the Kremlin in 2015 . 

“Throughout his life, Navalny proved to the world that Russia is not only about Putin’s gang of killers, but that it is also about millions of people who wish to see the country prosperous, wealthy and peaceful,” Lyubov Sobol, a Russian anti-war opposition politician — and a key member of Navalny’s team — exclusively told The Post Friday.

“Corruption is the Achilles’ heel of Putin’s regime, the basis on which loyalty to Putin is built in Russia,” added Sobol, who produced Navalny’s influential videos.

“Navalny, with his inherent charisma, talked about the specific crimes of Putin’s regime, and his narrative resonated in the hearts of Russians. His video investigations are the pinnacle of journalistic art. He fought for the rights of Russians to know the truth and dedicated his life to this.” 

It took time but the West finally came to understand that global corruption is a national security threat, as President Biden finally noted in 2021.

Some of Navalny’s most damning Putin exposés include:

Putin’s palace

In 2021, Navalny revealed Putin’s palace — a $1.35 billion Black Sea fortress — with a casino, Orthodox church, two helipads, a vineyard and even an underground ice hockey rink.

This exposé, complete with drone footage, has garnered 120 million hits since it was first posted on YouTube in January 2021, Sobol told The Post.

Oligarchs paid to build it — and it has been called the largest bribe in the world.

”They will keep on stealing more and more until they bankrupt the entire country,” Navalny said of Putin and his gang in the 113-minute video, according to the New York Times .

”Russia sells huge amounts of oil, gas, metals, fertilizer and timber — but people’s incomes keep falling and falling, because Putin has his palace.”

Putin’s superyachts

Navalny also exposed three of Putin’s massive superyachts, held in other people’s names to evade public relations fallout, not to mention sanctions.

The yachts include the Olympia and the Scheherazade, a 459-foot long, $700 million superyacht with a movie theater, helipad, pool and a security system that could shoot down drones.

It was seized in Italy , where another billionaire oligarch claims to own it.

There’s also the Graceful , which was moved from a German shipyard to Russia shortly before Putin’s illegal invasion of Crimea in 2022; its nickname is Kosatka, which means “Killer Whale.”

That yacht has a pool that turns into a dance floor and a helipad.

The Graceful, Navalny said, was staffed by members of the Russian Federal Security Service and sails with a motorcade; it has been spotted accompanied by a Russian Coast Guard boat helmed by the FSB, and it’s equipped with a special government-level “top secret” phone line.

Putin’s retreat near Finland

In 2017, Navalny exposed Putin’s  massive holiday island retreat near Finland , according to the Guardian. Known as Villa Segren, the mansion sits on 50 acres around Lodochny island in the Gulf of Finland.

Navalny showed drone footage of new homes, a villa, a helipad and pier on the property — and said the site was heavily guarded. 

“All the evidence clearly points towards one of Vladimir Putin’s standard corruption schemes,” Navalny said in the video.

“His personal assets are registered under the names of his close friends who have become fabulously wealthy over the last 17 years.” 

Medvedev’s manor

In 2016, Navalny exposed the 200-acre “Milovka Manor,” about five hours from Moscow, where then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was said to holiday with his family, according to the Moscow Times .

It included a marina, ski slope, a special communications tower, giant outdoor chess board, three helipads and a special home for ducks who lived like tsars — yellow ducks then became a symbol of protest.

In a “fear and loathing” essay that Navalny wrote in August, after being handed a 19-year jail sentence, he wrote that he blamed the “reformers” of the 1990s who squandered a historic opportunity to bring democracy to Russia in favor of getting rich by rigged privatization auctions, overriding the courts, fixing elections, creating a culture of lies and the fetishization of wealth — they even sold Russians on a constitution that gave the president the powers of a tsar.

“There was no creeping or overt coup in our country led by people from the special services,” Navalny wrote.

“They did not come to power by pushing the democrat reformers out of power. They did it themselves. They called them themselves. They invited them themselves. They taught them how to fake elections. How to steal property from entire industries. How to lie to the media. How to change laws to suit themselves. How to suppress opposition by force. Even how to organize idiotic, stupid, talentless wars.”

“That is why I can’t help it and I fiercely hate those who sold, drank, and wasted the historical chance that our country had in the early 90s … I hate the swindlers, whom we used to call reformers for some reason,” he continued.

“Now it is very clear that they did nothing but intrigue and take care of their own wealth. Is there any other country where so many Ministers of the “Government of Reforms” became millionaires and billionaires? I hate the authors of the most stupid authoritarian constitution, which they sold to us idiots as democratic, even then giving the president the power of a full-fledged monarch.”

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What Navalny witnessed made him believe that Putin’s Russia was even worse than the Soviet Union.

“I have no good words about the Soviet Union, but at least they had some restraints thanks to a party ideology and followed some rules of the game on the global scene at least in the later stages — they avoided killing their opponents in front of the whole world deliberately and openly,” Zaslavsky told The Post.

“Only under Putin have the execution-style deaths of rivals and gradual torture of Navalny become standard. Navalny was very brave. He understood what happened and he still went back to Russia. He exposed the systemic corruption on an unprecedented scale — not just of Putin but of everyone around him.”

“Navalny tried to mobilize people to fight. He lived by his actions. Not just his words.” 

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Putin's superyachts targeted in latest round of U.S. sanctions

The White House announced a new round of sanctions Thursday against Russia over its assault on Ukraine , which include targeting four yachts linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Treasury Department said Putin has taken numerous trips on two of the yachts, the Russia-flagged Graceful and the Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, "including a 2021 trip in the Black Sea where he was joined by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the OFAC-designated corrupt ruler of Belarus, who has supported Russia’s war against Ukraine." (OFAC is the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.) 

The Treasury Department also identified two other yachts it said are linked to Putin — the Shellest and the Nega. "Shellest periodically travels to the coast where President Putin’s infamous Black Sea Palace is located, and President Putin uses Nega for travel in Russia’s North," the agency said in a news release.

The U.S. first sanctioned Putin in February. Some experts have  estimated  that his net worth is in the tens of billions; he has buried his wealth behind numerous shell companies, making it  difficult  to locate and freeze his assets. The Treasury Department said Thursday that the Olympia and the Graceful are owned by a company owned by the Russian government, while the Shellest and the Nega are owned by a Russian company.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the new sanctions were designed "to degrade the networks allowing Russia’s elites, including President Putin, to anonymously make use of luxury assets around the globe."

As part of the effort, the U.S. sanctioned Imperial Yachts SARL, a yacht brokerage it said is aligned with the Kremlin and provides "yacht-related services to Russia’s elites, including those in President Putin’s inner circle."

"When not in use by their owners, superyachts can be offered for charter through businesses such as Imperial Yachts, generating income for the owners, who are in some cases Russia’s oligarchs," the Treasury Department said.

In a statement Thursday, Imperial Yachts called the accusations "false" and said it "will pursue all available legal remedies to resolve this matter promptly."

"We are not involved in our clients’ financial affairs,” the company said.

The Treasury Department took aim at Putin allies, as well, including business leaders and government officials. Sergei Pavlovich Roldugin , whom the Treasury Department identified as a close friend of Putin's who helps manage his offshore wealth, was sanctioned, as was Yury Slyusar, the president of a state-owned company that is a major aircraft supplier for the Russian military.

The sanctions also targeted yachts and luxury aircraft belonging to other oligarchs, including a yacht called the Sea Rhapsody and a jet that have been linked to Andrei Kostin , the previously sanctioned head of Russia's VTB Bank.

Andrei Vladimirovich Skoch, a billionaire member of the Russian Duma who was also previously sanctioned , has been linked to a Cayman Islands-flagged yacht called the Madame Gu, a helicopter housed on the yacht and a private plane. The Treasury Department said that the 324-foot Madame Gu is valued at $156 million and that it "includes an elevator, beach club, gym, and requires significant maintenance and repair, including approximately $1 million for painting annually."

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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Inside Vladimir Putin’s $932 million super yacht, complete with dance floor pool and gold toilet paper holders

Vladimir Putin has spared no expense on his alleged $932 million superyacht, which comes complete with its own dance floor pool and golden toilet paper holders.

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This yacht makes a Bond villain’s boat look like a dinghy.

Vladimir Putin, whose forces continue to attack Ukraine, spared no expense on his alleged $932 million superyacht, which comes complete with its own dance floor — and even golden toilet paper holders, according to The Sun.

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Rumours that the boat belonged to him have been swirling since its construction; however, anti-Kremlin activists recently claimed that it is indeed Putin’s.

See all the images inside the yacht at The Sun

“It’s like a mini city,” an unnamed worker reportedly involved in its construction told the Sun of the 150m-long luxury vessel, which is moored in Marina di Carrara in Italy.

“There are countless swimming pools, a spa, a sauna, a theatre, ballrooms, a gym, two helipads.”

Known as Scheherazade — after the iconic Persian queen from literature — the opulent watercraft was reportedly first estimated at £500 million (AU$872 million), although sources told The Sun the price may be closer to £750 million (AU$1.3 billion).

It appears that Putin put his money where his boat is: Photos obtained by the Sun show the veritable maritime mansion and its six floors of swanky amenities.

They include a 5m-wide aquarium, multiple TVs — including a 4.6m beast spanning an entire wall — and a self-levelling pool table so that guests can play even when the sea turns turbulent.

There are also bathrooms outfitted with King Midas-evoking gold taps and toilet paper holders, plus a tile dance floor that converts into a pool.

Scheherazade is thought to be one of only two ships in the world with that feature, the Sun reported; the other is Putin’s second yacht, Graceful.

Along with standard bling, the Russian president decked out the superyacht with personal touches, including a judo room with framed pictures of black belts, plus various books showcasing the autocrat’s worship of wealth.

“Every surface is either marble or gold,” an unnamed boatbuilder told the Sun of the glitzy vessel, which the worker finds especially obscene in light of current events.

The ritzy ship isn’t just built for pleasure cruises. Much like the bad guy’s superyacht in the movie “Thunderball,” Scheherazade can supposedly transform from a party boat to a battleship in a flash with a state-of-the-art security system reportedly capable of shooting down drones.

If that wasn’t ostentatious enough, the super yacht-aircraft-carrier also contains two helipads and a hangar than can house a helicopter, six jet skis, five dinghies and eight Seabob underwater scooters.

Scheherazade was built over two years ago. However, the vessel’s alleged ties to Putin came to light recently after activists affiliated with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny claimed that some of the crew members worked for the Federal Security Service, which handles the Russian leader’s security.

“A dozen of Vladimir Putin’s personal guards and servants are constantly maintaining one of the world’s largest yachts docked in an Italian port,” investigative journalist and Navalny ally Maria Pevchikh wrote on Twitter .

See all the images inside the yacht at The Sun .

This story first appeared in The Post and was republished with permission.

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Russian crew aboard a superyacht possibly linked to Putin have left their jobs, workers say.

U.S. officials have said the Scheherezade, which is dry-docked in Italy, could be owned by the Russian leader.

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By Gaia Pianigiani

• March 24, 2022

Russian crew members on a mysterious $700-million luxury yacht that U.S. officials say could be owned by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia abruptly left their jobs and the Tuscan coastal town where it is undergoing repairs a couple of weeks ago amid scrutiny of the vessel, local union leaders and workers say.

The crew members had been fixtures in the small port of Marina di Carrara since the fall of 2020, when the 459-foot-long yacht, Scheherazade, arrived at a dry dock less than four months after being built. No owner has been publicly identified.

“They were replaced by a British crew,” said Paolo Gozzani, the local leader of Italy’s General Confederation of Labor trade union, on Wednesday. “I don’t know and don’t care whether the yacht is indeed Putin’s or not, but I worry about the repercussions on shipyard workers if police impound or confiscate the vessel.”

Workers at the shipyard and regular visitors to its private lounge confirmed that the Russians had routinely supervised the work done on the yacht and had drinks at the bar or played pool there in the evenings. The yacht, estimated by the website SuperYachtFan to cost about $700 million, has two helicopter decks, a swimming pool with a retractable cover that converts to a dance floor and a gym.

This week, the research team of Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, published a video in which it argued, based on a 2020 crew manifest, that a dozen of the Russian crew members of the Scheherazade either worked for or had a connection with Russia’s Federal Protective Service. The team drew the conclusion that the yacht must belong to Mr. Putin or some of his closest aides.

The Scheherazade’s real ownership is hidden by various shell companies. American officials said this month they had found initial indications that it was linked to Mr. Putin but would not describe what information they had.

In an interview with The New York Times this month, the yacht’s captain, Guy Bennett-Pearce, declined to disclose the name of the owner, but denied that Mr. Putin owned or had ever been on the yacht. Mr. Bennett-Pearce said Thursday he wouldn’t comment further until an investigation by Italian authorities was finished.

Italy’s financial police have been looking into Scheherazade’s ownership for weeks. Italian investigators wouldn’t comment on Thursday, saying that the investigation was continuing.

In a speech to Italy’s Parliament this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Italy to prevent Russians from vacationing in the country, as well as to freeze their assets, bank accounts and yachts, “f rom the Scheherazade to the smallest ones .”

Italian authorities have frozen over 800 million euros in assets from Russian oligarchs on the European sanctions list, including villas in Sardinia, Tuscany, Liguria and the Lake Como area, and three yachts.

Gaia Pianigiani is a reporter based in Italy for The New York Times.  More about Gaia Pianigiani

Inside Putin's Palace: The $1.4 Billion-Dollar Compound

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A 2021 Russian documentary made by a Russian anti-corruption team has revealed a luxurious $1.4 billion estate  in Russia on the Black Sea. The film details an astonishingly large and opulent palace . And one critic is claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin is behind the construction of the billion-dollar estate.

Alex Navalny is a fierce Putin critic. He released the 113-minute documentary-style film earlier this year with the help of his anti-corruption team. The film alleges Putin and his billionaire friends secretly built the mansion using illicit funds.

Within 24 hours of its release, the video gained 20 million views. Within a week, 93 million had seen it, making it the activist’s most popular investigation.

“This is certainly not just a building. It is a symbol of the 20 years of Putin’s rule,” Navalny claims.

Analysis of financial documents reveals that the mansion cost almost 100 billion rubles, or about $1.3 billion. Money, he claims Putin funneled from various oligarch cronies. Navalny is calling the palace the world’s biggest bribe.

The investigation doesn’t rely on financial records alone. Navalny and his team have obtained detailed floor plans, drone footage, and interior photographs. The extravagant mansion is reportedly 39 times the size of Monaco .

The estate stands in Cape Idokopas, near the village of Praskoveevka. The palace is tucked away down a winding road on a thickly wooded mountainside overlooking Russia's Black Sea coast. The palace, surrounded by forest, sits on a block of land with a total area of 74 hectares.

Centered around a beautiful pearl-colored palace with an area of 190,500 square feet are many amazing amenities. Navalny's report describes that the grounds feature an arboretum, a greenhouse, an underground hockey rink, a church, an amphitheater, and a sculpture garden.

Near the main structure, there is a 260-foot bridge that leads to a 27,000-square-foot guest house.

Insider reports that the estate is also accessible by yacht and helicopter, as it features its own seaport and two helipads. Near the port, there is a special tunnel built into the seaside cliff to provide access to the beach. The tunnel includes a tasting room in the middle with the 'best possible view of the sea'.

Reporting suggests the architect who designed the ostentatious palace is Italian designer Lanfranco Cirillo. Cirillo has spent decades providing Moscow’s super-rich with villas and Italian-inspired designs.

"It's not overdone, but naturally it is rich, as it was supposed to be. And we used fantastic materials. I was proud of my job. It's very good 'Made in Italy',” the architect said of the palace.

Rich is also the term many Russians would use to describe the decor. Only the super-wealthy live in palaces featuring luxuries like those found in this. There is a private theater, a Las Vegas-style casino, an “aqua-discotheque” with a swim-up bar, a Turkish bath, a sauna, a cocktail lounge, a gym, A hookah bar, and staff quarters.

The 11-bedroom home features many living areas. There are also separate kitchens for meat and fish.

Among the additional areas are more than a dozen guest bedrooms near the master bedroom, which is spacious enough for a king. Navalny claims the master suite is nearly 2,800 square feet.

The home also features a wine cellar that holds wine produced from the grapes in the vineyard.

The furniture listed in the plans Navalny exposed are from Italian furniture companies Citterio, Pozzoli, and AB Italia, and the filmmaker has even managed to get prices for some of the items. These overstuffed chairs in the mansion’s 'room of entertaining games' cost the equivalent of $9,000 apiece. One leather sofa allegedly costs $28,000 , while an ornate table with a built-in bar goes for over $49,000.

RELATED: 20 Surprising Facts About Vladimir Putin's Family

In a rare rebuttal, Putin denied that he owns the billion-dollar palace, according to The Washington Post . “Nothing of what was indicated there as my property belongs either to me or my close relatives,” Putin said.

Though Putin dismissed Navalny’s video as 'boring', it spurred demonstrations across Russia earlier this year. Many protesters took to the street to chat, “Putin is a thief!”

The extent of Putin's wealth remains a mystery. The Russian president has not appeared on Bloomberg's and Forbes' rankings of the world's billionaires. However, at a 2017 Senate Judiciary Hearing, Putin critic and financier Bill Browder estimated the president "has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains  and described him as one of the richest men in the world."

READ NEXT: Vladimir Putin Could Be Wealthier Than Bill Gates And Jeff Bezos Combined

Source: Insider , Washington Post , Spiegel

Clarence Thomas Took Free Yacht Trip to Russia, Chopper Flight to Putin’s Hometown: Dems

The allegedly secret gifts were disclosed in a letter from two Democratic senators that accused Thomas of potentially committing tax fraud.

Anna Conkling

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been accused of not disclosing a yacht trip to Russia and a private helicopter flight to a palace in President Vladimir Putin’s hometown, among a slew of other gifts and loans from businessman Harlan Crow .

Buried on page 14 of a letter that two Democratic senators sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday, in which they urged Garland to appoint a special counsel to probe Thomas, was an astonishing list of dozens of “likely undisclosed gifts and income” from Crow, Crow’s affiliated companies, and “other donors.”

In the letter, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) said Thomas, one of the court’s staunchly conservative justices , even may have committed tax fraud and violated other federal laws by “secretly” accepting the gifts and income potentially worth millions.

“The Senate is not a prosecutorial body, and the Supreme Court has no fact-finding function of its own, making the executive role all the more important if there is ever to be any complete determination of the facts,” reads the letter requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor. 

“We do not make this request lightly,” said the letter. 

The list of potentially secret gifts also includes a loan of more than $267,000 provided by Thomas’ close friend Anthony Welters, the yacht trip to Russia from the Baltics, and the helicopter ride to Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg. ProPublica first reported last year on the existence of extensive undisclosed gifts and lavish trips from Crow.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden

Additionally, Justice Thomas is accused of not disclosing tuitions for his grandnephew, free lodging, real estate transactions, and home renovations. The action escalates Democratic senators’ efforts to hold Thomas accountable for perceived ethics controversies. 

According to the senators, Thomas’ conduct could violate the Ethics in Government Act, which requires officials like Supreme Court justices to file annual reports disclosing gifts and income accepted from outside sources.

“It is a crime,” reads the report, “To knowingly and willfully fail to file or report such information.”

Since 2023, two Senate committees have been looking into the 1991 loan from Welters that was connected to Thomas’ purchase of a luxury motor home. Welters previously responded to a New York Times request for comment on the loan only to say that it was “satisfied.”

Thomas, for his part, belatedly disclosed some—but not all—gifts from Crow this year and has defended the gifts as “personal hospitality” from some of his and his wife’s “dearest friends.”

“The evidence assembled thus far plainly suggests that Justice Thomas has committed numerous willful violations of federal ethics and false-statement laws and raises significant questions about whether he and his wealthy benefactors have,” Whitehouse and Wyden wrote.

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Ukraine-Russia latest: Kyiv’s ‘audacious’ Kursk incursion has Moscow elites questioning war, CIA chief says

Largest attack on russia since second world war has unnerved russian elites, suggests william burns, article bookmarked.

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Ukraine ’s incursion into Kursk has caused Russian elites to question Vladimir Putin ’s war, CIA director William Burns has said.

Speaking in London alongside MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore, who praised the “audacious” incursion, the CIA chief said he did not see any evidence that Mr Putin's grip on power was weakening as a result, but that “it did raise questions on the part of people we could see across the Russian elite about where is this all headed”.

Warning that Britain and the US face “an unprecedented array of threats”, the spymasters warned that staying the course in resisting Vladimir Putin ’s war in Ukraine “is more vital than ever”, saying that Russia “will not succeed in extinguishing Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence”.

And CIA director William Burns warned of the growing and “troubling” defence relationship between Russia, Iran , China and North Korea, as reports claim the US has warned allies that it believes Tehran has sent ballistic missiles to Russia, in what the White House said would mark a “dramatic escalation” in their relationship.

Zelensky meets Netherlands politician Geert Wilders

Volodymyr Zelensky has met Dutch politician Geert Wilders, the leader of the largest Dutch parliamentary party, at the Ambrosetti forum in Italy.

The Ukrainian president “thanked the Netherlands and the entire Dutch people for their comprehensive support of Ukraine: defence, financial and humanitarian”, a statement on Mr Zelensky’s website said.

The two men discussed Ukraine’s peace plan for ending the war with Russia, the statement added.

Iran appears to deny reports it has sent ballistic missiles to Russia

Iran has appeared to deny reports carrying claims from senior Western officials that it has supplied hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia.

Following reporting by CNN and the Wall Street Journal , Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said on Friday that Tehran’s position on the Ukraine conflict was unchanged.

“Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict - which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations - to be inhumane,” it said.

“Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict.”

Iran sending Russia ballistic missiles would be ‘dramatic escalation’, warns CIA chief

CIA director William Burns has warned of the growing and “troubling” defence relationship between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea

Speaking at an FT event following reports in the Wall Street Journal that Tehran had defied G7 threats of further sanctions by supplying Russia with hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles, Mr Burns warned that such a move would be a “dramatic escalation” of the relationship.

His comments echoed those of White House national security council spokesperson Sean Savett, who told reporters: “Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

North Korea has sent ammunition and missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine, while Iran supplies Moscow with attack drones. Mr Burns said the CIA had yet to see evidence of China sending weapons to Russia, “but we see lot of things short of that.”

‘Too early’ to say how long Ukraine can hang on in Kursk, says MI6 chief

The head of MI6, Richard Moore, has said it is “too early” to say how long Ukrainian forces would be able to hang on in Russia’s Kursk region.

Speaking at an FT event which Mr Moore also attended in London, CIA director William Burns called Ukraine’s Kursk offensive in Russia “a significant tactical achievement”.

Ukraine expresses concerns over reports of Iran sending ballistic missiles to Russia

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has expressed its deep concerned over reports about a possible impending transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.

The ministry said the deepening military co-operation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East, and called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and Russia, after CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.

Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine.

On Friday, the United States, a key ally of Ukraine, also voiced concern about the potential transfer of missiles.

“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” White House national security council spokesperson Sean Savett said.

Air raid sirens sound as funerals held for victims of Poltava attack

Funeral services have been held for victims of one of the deadliest Russian airstrikes since the war in Ukraine began, which president Volodymyr Zelensky said left 55 people dead and 328 injured in the city of Poltava.

Hundreds of mourners, including grieving families, local residents, and officials, gathered at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the city, some 200 miles southeast of Kyiv, for the solemn ceremony.

Relatives, many holding red carnations, stood over caskets placed outside the church, draped in yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags. An air raid siren sounded during the service.

Local residents knelt in silent tribute as hearses carrying the victims passed by on their way to a military cemetery outside the city for burial.

Zelensky ‘discusses peace plan' with Italy’s Meloni

Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed his peace plan to end the war with Russia and reconstruction with a focus on Ukraine’s energy system in a meeting with Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni, the Ukrainian president said.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

Russia claims to seize Donetsk village 20 miles east of Povrosk

Russia’s defence ministry claims its troops have seized the Donetsk village of Kalynove.

Kalynove lies some 20 miles east of Povrosk, the key supply hub which Vladimir Putin’s forces are desperately seeking to seize in their current push on the eastern Ukrainian front line.

Three killed by Russian shelling in Donetsk town, governor says

Three people have been killed and three others wounded by Russian artillery shelling of the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk’s regional governor has said.

Three men aged between 24 and 69 were killed and a multi-storey block, administrative building and a shop were damaged, governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.

Analysis | Ukraine’s attack on Russia started as a triumph – but could into a tragedy

Ukraine’s counter-invasion of Russia saw it take more than 300 square miles of the Kursk region in its first month, raised morale at home and challenged a growing sense in the West that stalemate was the best Kyiv could hope for. Yet as a daring incursion looks set to become an open-ended occupation, doubts are growing about its long-term wisdom.

When Ukrainian forces crossed the Russian border on 6 August, Kyiv was tight-lipped about its objectives, both to keep Moscow guessing and also because it did not want to set itself up for a fall. It needed a victory for both foreign and domestic audiences.

Since then, though, the goals seem to have changed – and gaps opened between the military and political leadership.

Historian and author Mark Galeotti has more analysis on the incursion here:

Ukraine’s attack on Russia started as a triumph – but could yet turn into a tragedy

The daring attack on Russia’s Kursk region may have renewed hopes that the tide could finally be turning, but Mark Galeotti argues that there’s a huge difference between besting poorly trained forces and being able to keep a firm grip on occupied land

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