A $3.2 million fisherman’s villa built for Vladimir Putin sits unused in Finland, reports „The Insider“.
The luxurious house has three floors, a wine cellar, a sauna and an elevator, but was never completed.
The construction was therefore canceled after it was discovered that Putin had no interest in Finnish fisheries.
The Russian head of state Wladimir Putin has a fisherman villa in Finlandwhich he will probably never use.
Located on the shore of Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, the abandoned cottage was built for Putin by a close friend for around $3.2 million, according to independent Russian magazine „The Insider“ reported.
The three story Villa has an elevator, a wine cellar, an underground parking garage, a sauna, its own swimming pool, a billiard room, an office and eight toilets, The Insider reported, citing a blueprint of the house.
However, according to reporter Sergey Kanev, it was never completed.
A video released on Thursday shows Kanev entering the empty house through an open door.
Inside, he found scaffolding, stacks of building materials, tiles, a ladder, wires, refrigerators, and an uninstalled bathtub.
“Do not touch these boxes without my consent,” read one box in Russian.
There were many problems with the construction work: The construction workers had to be replaced regularly because they repeatedly quit because of their wages and working conditions, The Insider reported. According to the report, some Finnish workers also refused to work on the house.
Villa was funded by old Putin friend
The mansion was funded by Viktor Khmarin, an old classmate of Putin’s at Leningrad State University who now lobbies for the Russian leader, according to The Insider. They went to school dances together and were wrestling buddies, the report said.
Today, Khmarin is the general director of the largest hydroelectric power plant in Russia and is married to Putin’s cousin, how „Forbes“ reported.
Khmarin built the Finnish house to get Putin to spend more time with him, according to The Insider.
The lobbyist paid around $541,000 for the main building, $216,000 for a security house, $432,000 for building materials, and additional expenses for wooden bridges, trails, a fisherman’s house and other facilities, according to The Insider.
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It’s unclear exactly when construction took place, but according to The Insider, it was before July 2017.
At that time, Putin arrived in the nearby town of Savonlinna, where he Finnish President Sauli Niinistö traf.
During the meeting with Putin, an aide to Khmarin came to the villa and told the builders to stop the work as Putin was no longer interested in fishing in Finland, according to The Insider, citing a source in Russia’s security services.
Khmarin later wrote off the house as a loss after being unable to find a buyer, the source said.
The site of Khmarin’s fishing villa is near Villa Segren, another Gulf of Finland property that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny claims was used by Putin as a vacation spot.
On Drone footage released by Navalny in 2017a jetty and a helipad can apparently be seen on the grounds of the property.
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