As the Russian troops intensify their unending bombardment of neighbouring Ukraine, a media investigation has exposed an expensive apartment which President Vladimir Putin purchased for a former mistress with whom he fathered a daughter.
Svetlana Krivonogikh the former cleaner was first publicly linked to Putin in 2020 after an investigation by independent media site Proekt. This website claimed that Krivonogikh had U$100 million in assets — and was the mother of Putin’s alleged extramarital daughter, Yelizaveta “Luiza” Rozova.
The Pandora Papers leak in 2021 also showed Krivonogikh owned a U$4 million apartment in Monaco through an offshore company.
Now the BBC’s Russian service has unearthed the listing on the website of German luxury brokerage Engel & Völkers. The ad priced the “Residence on Kamenny Island” — a 19th-century retreat for imperial royalty — at U$8,700 per month, minus U$1,130 for utilities.
These are real interiors of a luxury apartment owned by former Putin's mistress Svetlana Krivonogikh. It was supposely a gift from his friends one year after she gave birth to his illegitimate daughter.
You can rent this apartment in Saint-Petersburg for about $9000 per month. pic.twitter.com/B6cjaeLFwU
— Andrey Zakharov (@skazal_on) April 7, 2022
The BBC said it was able to link Krivonogikh to the apartment through registry papers that listed her as the owner of the 447,400-square-meter residence.
The BBC’s Russian service said it first encountered the elite St. Petersburg rental, currently valued at U$3.7 million, on a popular Russian real estate platform in 2021. That listing was also taken offline after attempts to contact Krivonogikh and Engel & Völkers.
Photos of the apartment’s exuberant interior revealed what one expert described as a throwback to post-Soviet flamboyance of interior design. The first floor houses a living room and a terrace overlooking the Neva River, with a floor-to-ceiling chandelier in the hallway and an elevator connecting all four floors.
A gold-plated bedroom and an intricately painted nursery are located on the second floor, with a bar and a home theater on the third. A garage and a waiting room for drivers and security guards can be found on the ground floor.
