 |
| Russian President Vladimir Putin [FILE PHOTO] |
Moscow: The buzz in the air, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin is among the world’s wealthiest men, with an oil-fed fortune worth tens of billions of dollars and many luxurious articles.
According to the latest pamphlet released by oppositionist Boris Nemtsov, Putin have twenty villas and residences, four yachts, and a Black Sea palace that could make Louis XIV weep.
However, Putin have denied that, vehemently, but a report to be published Tuesday suggests that the dispute may be beside the point.
The report titled “The Life of a Galley Slave,” consist the description of Putin tenure in his office.
In his report Russian opposition leaders termed it as “extraordinary expansion of presidential perks during the 12 years since the start of Putin’s first term as president.
According to Nemtsov and his co-author, Leonid Martynyuk, Putin has “20 palaces, villas and residences”.
Putin, meanwhile, has a billion-dollar air fleet of 43 airplanes and 15 helicopters at his disposal. His four yachts are worth a total of 3 billion rubles, according to the pamphlet.
The authors, Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister who has been jailed a number of times on various pretexts, and Leonid Martynyuk, a member of the Solidarity movement, present enlarged photographs of the Russian leader’s wrist during meetings and public appearances, revealing a variety of expensive watches, 11 in all, worth $687,000 at retail — about six times Mr. Putin’s annual salary.
The report does not dwell on the question of Mr. Putin’s personal wealth, but suggests that it may not be as enormous as many have suggested.
Responding to a written query, the Kremlin’s press office said Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, was on vacation and unable to respond to the substance of the report. However, Mr. Peskov said the residences, aircraft and cars were government property used lawfully by the president.
As for his famed collection of watches, there are 11 – and they are worth a total of 22 million rubles, about $710,000.
Notably, Nemtsov’s pamphlet was aimed to coincide with the start of an auto rally between Moscow and Krasnoyarsk on Monday in order to raise support for a mass opposition protest Sept. 15.