Moscow:
Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg mentioned on Saturday he owns a large palace in southern Russia which jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has linked to President Vladimir Putin.
Navalny and his anti-corruption foundation have published a video in which they allege the opulent mansion belonged to the Russian leader. The video has been viewed more than 103 million occasions.
Rotenberg, Putin’s former judo sparring companion who sold his stake in gas pipeline building firm Stroygazmontazh in 2019 for a sum which the RBC organization day-to-day place at 75 billion roubles ($990 million), mentioned he purchased the palace two years ago.
“Now it will no longer be a secret, I am the beneficiary,” Rotenberg mentioned in a video published by the Mash Telegram channel. “There was a rather complicated facility, there were a lot of creditors, and I managed to become the beneficiary.”
He gave no additional economic facts of the acquire or how it had been funded. Putin has denied ownership of the palace.
Navalny was remanded in custody for 30 days on Jan. 18 for alleged parole violations which he says had been trumped up. He was arrested just after flying back to Moscow from Germany exactly where he had been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning final August.
Following his arrest thousands of men and women joined unsanctioned protests across Russia final Saturday to demand his release. Further protest rallies are planned across Russia on Sunday. The authorities have mentioned the gatherings are illegal and have vowed to break them up.
On Saturday, Mediazona editor-in-chief Sergey Smirnov was released from police custody just after getting detained earlier in the day on suspicion of taking component in a protest in Moscow final weekend, the independent on the net media outlet mentioned.
Smirnov faces a court hearing on Feb. 3, the RIA news agency mentioned. He could face up to 30 days in jail or a fine of up to 300,000 roubles or compulsory labour.
Rotenberg was amongst the Russian officials and organization executives blacklisted by the United States and other Western powers in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014.
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