we head now to the black sea and to a
sprawling palace complex with its own
amphitheater
a tea house and a helipad who owns it
well kremlin critic alexei navalny has
released a two-hour video investigation
into the complex saying
the palace was built for russian
president vladimir putin
using taxpayer money the kremlin has
denied those allegations
the video was posted by navalny's team
two days after he was jailed upon
returning to russia
in the two-hour video navalny explains
how his anti-corruption foundation
had been able to film the property from
above for the first time
using a drone he says there's nothing
like it
anywhere in the country
without exaggeration it is the most
secretive and guarded facility in russia
it isn't a country house or a residence
it's an entire city or rather a kingdom
it has impregnable fences its own
harbour guards church its own checkpoint
no fly zone and even its own border
point it is a separate state inside
russia
details of the powers were leaked by
construction workers said to be shocked
at its opulence
among its many features this green mound
is reported to house an underground ice
hockey rink
this is an amphitheater
navalny points out the exit of a tunnel
used by putin to access the beach
he also emphasizes not just the size of
the palace
but also the vastness of the area it
occupies
which is three and a half times the size
of the nearest city
the kremlin rejects all the claims
calling them nonsensical
these are groundless allegations they
are nonsense and a compilation of
fabrications
and nothing else that's the principal
goal of such documents
such pseudo investigations it's a scam
we want all the people taking into
account the big number of views
insists that not only does this property
belong to putin
but that it was financed through
corruption and the misuse of public
funds
calling it the biggest bribe in history
for which the russian president must be
held
to account our correspondent yuri
roshetto is standing by for us in moscow
hi yuri what about the timing of this
why did alexi navalny decide to release
this film now
explains right at the beginning of the
video why he is only coming out with
this now he says he didn't want to be
accused of taking a shot at putin from
abroad
where he was safe the politician clearly
wants to go
on the offensive he wants to show that
he is not afraid of anything
he already showed that by coming back to
russia of course he didn't know for sure
he would be arrested but
it did seem likely he has been accused
in the past to me by the kremlin of
being
an instrument of the western secret
services which has always denied
by releasing this video while he is in a
russian prison
now he is presenting himself as a
russian politician with no plans of
leaving the country someone who is
prepared to go through thick and thin
with people here we saw on the report
that the kremlin says this is an
old record tell us more about the
reactions from authorities
well the official reactions are of
course no surprise you mentioned the
press
secretary of vladimir putin mr piskov
said it's an overplayed record
something that navalny has been saying
over and over again the head of the
dumas the russian parliament that
cheslav volodin
insisted navalny is being used as a tool
by the western secret services and the
u.s
state department all that navalny does
he said is backed by foreign states and
russia's task would be to prevent such
foreign interference
as for people's reactions here the
navalny investigation is
the top video on russian youtube it has
gotten nearly 20 million views since it
was published last night
and it's a hot topic on social media of
course as well the navalny people have
even
created a filter on instagram with which
you can use
or you can see yourself in a 3d model in
the rooms of the palace and
take a selfie so it's getting a lot of
attention what
impact you think this is going to
actually have for the kremlin
well that may sound very strange to
western ears but
the answer is nothing no impact probably
a western politician would
resign immediately in any case it would
be a political earthquake
but not he assumed not in russia we have
to keep in mind that
although it's the most spectacular video
by navalny
or of navalny so far it's not the first
mine one uh
this is a typical video of navalny in
2017 he
published a similar investigation about
the then prime minister mitra medvedev
which prompted protests here in the
country but didn't change anything
everyone here already knew that putin
was rich or is rich
and despite social media discussions
right now state-backed media media will
of course
not accuse putin but rather present
navalny as someone who has
betrayed his country and wants to weaken
russia
yuri rashada reporting for us in moscow
thank you
you