A full-length documentary released by Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny garnered over 100 million views on YouTube on Thursday.
The documentary, “Putin’s Palace”, claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin owns an extravagant billion-dollar palace on the Black Sea that was built with secret funds, according to The Washington Post. The Kremlin vehemently denied the claim.
Navalny’s video shows that the neoclassical palace has a casino, ice skating rink, theater and helipad, and the documentary provides a paper trail that supposedly takes him back to Putin despite attempts to hide his property, Reuters reported. .
“None of what was indicated there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives,” Putin said at a televised meeting with college students this week, according to the Post. Putin said he did not have time to watch the video, but saw small compilations made by the team.
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ARCHIVE – This video frame released by Navalny Life on YouTube on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, shows a view of a property overlooking the Black Sea of Russia. Navalny’s team posted the complaint on video alleging that the luxurious “palace” was built for President Vladimir Putin through an elaborate corruption scheme. (Navalny Life YouTube channel via AP, Archive)
The documentary claims that the palace formally belongs to four Putin allies, the Post reported.
Navalny, Putin’s most prominent critic, was poisoned last summer by a nervous agent who he and Western democracies claim was executed by Putin. The Kremlin denied being involved.
Navalny was flown to Germany for emergency treatment and returned to Moscow earlier this month, where he was immediately arrested for alleged parole violations because of a dubious embezzlement conviction.
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a TV screen during a live session with the court during a hearing on his appeal in a court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, January 28, 2021. (AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko)
After his arrest, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Russia last weekend in support of him, shouting “Putin is a thief!” But even while the United States and other counties are calling for his release, he remains in custody.
Navalny said in the video that his team agreed to release the video when he returned to Moscow because “we don’t want the main character [Putin] of this film to think that we are afraid of him and that I will tell him about his worst secret abroad. “
The palace was partially funded by a taxpayer hospital project, Reuters reported. Two Putin associates allegedly charged hospitals for medical equipment and laundered at least $ 50 million from a company that was building the palace.
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Rumors about the palace circulated for years before Navalny’s documentary went viral, according to Reuters.