Putin's Palace Funds in Charity Slush Funds

0:00This is Corey, here with your quick two-minute UK update brought to you by NordVPN, fast, reliable online privacy. Links in the episode description. A new report from Alexa Navalny's anti-corruption group claims that surplus cash from building Vladimir Putin's billion-pound Black Sea Palace ended. Up in charities run by his rumored partner, Alina Kabaeva. The Galenjika State wrapped up construction in 2023, leaving about 6.5 billion rubles. Or 63 million pounds. Unspent. Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast, linked to Putin since 2008, reportedly received 3 billion rubles in one charity and 3.5 billion in another. These groups focus on supporting female athletes and gymnastics programs, but investigators say most of the money just sat in high interest deposit accounts. Putin and the Kremlin denied owning the property, which is held by a company tied to his old associates through offshore loans from the British Virgin Islands. The palace boasts lavish features

1:04like a cliff-side balcony and recent additions such as a private church. The pro-found minimal actual spending on charity, tens of millions of rubles at most, with extras like interest earnings of 435 million rubles last year alone. Critics call the charity slush funds masking personal luxuries, including camps that doubled as play dates for Putin's alleged kids. Meanwhile, similar funding networks reportedly bankrolled another opulent palace and occupied Crimea, complete with the private hospital. This sheds fresh light on how Russia's elite channel public-linked funds into private empires.