Putin facing corruption claims over ‘hidden’ villa

VLADIMIR PUTIN has been linked to ownership of a villa complex on a scenic island near the Finnish border where a Soviet version of Sherlock Holmes was filmed, according to two investigations.

It is claimed in a Youtube video that received more than 1.8 million views in 24 hours Mr Putin is the owner of the Sellgren Villa on Lodochny Island in the Bay of Vyborg, a red-brick home built in 1913 and recently expanded. The claims are credited to separate investigations by the independent online channel TV Rain and opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

A drone flyover of the expansive property by Mr Navalny’s Anti-corruption Foundation showed a new 1,500-square-metre wing on the villa, a helipad, a pier, a guest house built in the same style, and a large house and garage, presumably for staff.

The villa is not mentioned in the president’s 2016 income and property declaration, which said he owns a 1,500-square-metre land plot, two cramped flats, three Soviet-era cars and a small cargo trailer. Mr Putin has previously been link to a palace on the Black Sea.

In the Youtube video, Mr Navalny called on supporters to demand he be allowed into next year’s presidential election despite a controversial embezzlement conviction that the authorities said would bar him from running.

The villa was designed by wellknown Finnish architect Uno Ullberg and served as the home of German spy Von Bork in a Soviet-era Sherlock Holmes film. Lodochny Island was part of the national forest reserves until it was rezoned for the construction of a tourist base in 2012.