Tuesday, February 15, 2011

PUTIN HAS apparently got himself a little bungalow near the Black Sea:
Set in 74 hectares of prime land near the Black Sea coast with its own vineyard, the palace is reported to be almost eight million square feet and has its own helipad. Other features include an indoor cinema, a summer amphitheatre, a casino, swimming pools, a gym and a clock tower. Sergei Kolesnikov, the businessman who claims the palace is Mr Putin's, has likened the structure to a palace built for Russia's Tsars outside St Petersburg. He said that the Russian prime minister had personally approved the design and materials.
Pictures at the link. Something doesn't seem quite right in the information, though. I believe the 74 hectares of land but... 8 million square feet for the building? Seems too much even for a Russian cleptocrat, no?

UPDATE. A reader writes to point out the error in The Telegraph's report: the 8 million square feet are precisely the 74 hectares of land, so it seems they confused it with the building size.  Exactly, and I should have noticed. Thanks!