Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg and a close friend and associate of President Vladimir Putin told Mash Telegram channel that he is the end beneficiary of the so-called luxurious "Putin's Palace" located off Gelendzhik Bay on the Black Sea.

As reported by bne IntelliNews, Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny has released a two-hour investigative documentary into "Putin’s Palace" that details Putin’s alleged ownership of a luxury mansion on the shores of the Black Sea, and dives into the details of the network of KGB colleagues formed during Putin’s years in Dresden. 

The documentary was published online the day after Navalny was taken into custody and received over 100mn views in the first week of its release.

Shortly after returning to Russia Navalny called for street demonstrations on January 23 and somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000, according to various reports, came out in support of him and in defiance of the Kremlin in over 100 cities and towns across the country.

Now Rotenberg claims that he owns the real estate in question, which he characterised as a "rare catch" and a "complex deal". The palace is built to become an upscale apartment hotel, according to him.

Previously on January 26 Vladimir Putin publicly denied having any relation to the property, while his press secretary Dmitry Peskov told the press it was controlled by "private entrepreneurs", although not yet linking it directly to Rotenberg.

Construction contractors confirmed to Rossiya 1 TV channel that "Putin's Palace" was in fact an apartment hotel.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, the Rotenbergs are key stoligarchs, or state-sponsored oligarchs, that are awarded large contracts to build infrastructure such as the Power of Siberia gas pipeline to China or the Kerch Bridge between Russia’s mainland and the Crimean Peninsula, earning billions of dollars in the process.

In 2020, the Rotenbergs have topped Forbes's rating of the wealthiest Russian family clans, ousting the Gutseriev family. The wealth of the Rotenbergs grew by $270mn to $5.45bn.