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Putin's Billion Dollar Palace
- dannykwells 6y agoI dunno, at the end Putin's spokesperson said that Putin doesn't own any palaces so this seems like fake news to me /s (But actually - this thing is like a Versailles for the modern era. Unreal.)
- parenthesis 6y agoIn the article, I initially misread that as "Putin doesn't own many palaces".
- ladyanita22 6y agoLike... just a few
- paxys 6y agoFitting, considering he basically is the king of Russia.
- credit_guy 6y agoCzar. Czar, by the way, comes from Caesar, which was both the name of Julius Caesar, and more importantly how the Roman emperors were referred to ("Give the Caesar's what belong to the Caesar"). In other words, Czar is a word for Emperor. When Peter the Great took the name of Emperor (1721), there were lots of princes and kings in Europe, but a single Emperor - the sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire (i.e. Austria), which at the time was Charles VI. It was quite an audacity, and lots of monarchs did not recognize the title, including obviously Charles VI himself. In time they came around. The point is, for hundreds of years following Peter the Great, the Russian Empire has perceived itself as the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire (which had the Orthodox Christian religion). So, maybe it's not official, but Putin sees himself as a Czar, or an Emperor, not as a mere King.
- deathlight 6y agoSuccessorship/consanguinuity to the Roman empire has been claimed by more than one country as well. The Ottoman sultan who conquered Constantinople declared himself such. It's where Romania gets its name as well.
- eutropia 6y agowhy though?
- jbob2000 6y agoTo entice people to his organization. He brings people to the palace, shows them the life of a king for a few days, and sends them home feeling warm and fuzzy about joining. No doubt the bedrooms have cameras in them to capture the blackmail-worthy acts that hold the whole cartel together.
- xmars 6y agoSo what? I bet trump has a bigger one
- jojobas 6y agoDid Trump build that while ruling a country and calling those earning $300 a month middle class?
- booblik 6y agoWell Trump certainly used his position to enrich the Trump organization. But in a much more blatantly open manner. Putin is probably the single richest person on Earth, pretending to be one of the people and living off the official presidential salary of about 130000 USD.
- TT3351 6y agoHe's actually not that rich... All image and pretense
- deathlight 6y agoHe's to a certainty not as rich as Putin. That doesn't mean he isn't rich compared to most other people, even after acknowledging his debts.
- mhh__ 6y agoPutin is a lot richer and more intelligent than Trump. I genuinely think that's why he adores him.
- dfilppi 6y agoYes but the genius Biden will eat his lunch. LoL
- GhostVII 6y agoI don't get why people with unlimited resources have such massive houses. I mean it's impressive and all, but I'd much rather have 4000 square feet (still huge) and a nice lot, all that empty space in those mansions is depressing.
- syntaxing 6y agoIt’s a symbol of wealth and power rather than the practicality.
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- smelter 6y agoClassical territory signaling, rather than example for the working class. The small territorial footprint of Japanese economic/military prowess nearly conquered the known world and still remains the only productive society contained by weaponized fission (big stick).
- mamon 6y agoWho said these mansions are empty? Common folks live with their spouse and children. Rich and powerful have a lot more people in their house: security, assistants, maids, cooks, not to mention other rich and powerful people visiting, bringing their own staff with them.
- jasonpeacock 6y agoPalaces are not unique to Russian oligarchs, they're everywhere...here's the newest one, in LA: https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/home-and-garden/the-world-e2-80-99s-largest-e2-80-94and-americas-priciest-e2-80-94home-is-ready-for-its-close-up/ar-BB1cGBoY https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/home-and-garden/the-worl...
- jojobas 6y agoYou earn a billion selling wonderbras and buy one of these - OK. You build one of this on corruption money while ruling the richest country with the poorest people - not OK.
- bergstromm466 6y ago> You earn a billion selling wonderbras and buy one of these - OK. > You build one of this on corruption money while ruling the richest country with the poorest people - not OK. They are two forms of capitalist exploitation. Your framing excuses the ‘business‘ kind, but the underlying exploitative mechanics are really no different. Most global north firms benefit from labor in corporate-bribed and IMF-drained regimes in the global south. Global south citizens are basically locked up in their countries, to be ruthlessly exploited by global north capitalist firms. The capitalist class wins, the working class loses.
- jojobas 6y agoBullshit. Nobody can force me into buying wonderbras. Sure, immense wealth translates into power, monopolies suck and antitrust regulations are the for a reason. Still it's a far cry from running an oil state and killing adversaries.
- bergstromm466 6y ago> Still it's a far cry from running an oil state and killing adversaries. Because Amerika doesn’t do exactly that, right?
- 6y ago
- cannaceo 6y ago190k square feet is massive...it’s a little less than a third the size of Versailles. Makes me wonder if the palace is built for similar political reasons. Now anyone who wants influence with Putin should build a residence nearby to attend court.
- seniorivn 6y agoall nearby land is either forest or wineries an other facilities all owned by Putin and his proxies there is uderground(literally) hokkey field near palace and Putin is known to play hokkey with his friends and those who want to be
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- abecedarius 6y agoOnly half the size of Diocletian’s palace. Why’d he let a Roman emperor outdo him?
- pmoriarty 6y agoThis lends some credence to reports that it is Putin who is the richest person in the world. One can't help but wonder how a humble servant of the people can amass such enormous personal wealth.
- moistly 6y agoNo need to wonder. Nalvany spells it out.
- stevespang 6y agoHaving traveled to Gelendzhik and Sochi I can attest that it is real.
- asats 6y agoA lot more pictures here https://navalny.com/p/6453/ https://navalny.com/p/6453/ And the full investigation with the documents and everything here https://palace.navalny.com/ https://palace.navalny.com/
- shashurup 6y agoWhy is this here? What are we supposed to discuss, Putin's tastes, his evilness or what?
- MagnumOpus 6y agoThe amazing-yet-illegal ways in which a civil servant earning about $110k per year can amass a billion-dollar fortune. The latter is the goal of most HN readers, so watching the video is instructive.
- shashurup 6y agoI believe most HN readers are intereted in the way corruption appears in the first place, how it prolifirates and what can be done to get rid of it. The documentary doesn't add up to any of above. It presents very weak evidence of Putins ownership. I don't see any credible evidence of the civil servant's welth either (I don't say he isn't wealty however). I would really like to hear an informed opinion on the subject, but I'm afraid people who have one just doesn't read HN.
- Nemerie 6y agoAlso, it's worth to mention that several people who expressed the interest to this place were thereafter persecuted by the police, including Suren Gazaryan who had to eventually leave the country and four activists that were sentenced to 8 - 13 years imprisonment. https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-dacha-activists/25066550.html https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-dacha-activists/2506655...