Russia’s Vladimir Putin Building $1 Billion Seaside Residence

bp ^ | Feb 15th 2011 | Niccolo Machiavelli

[george76]

Proving that once again nothing pays better than government corruption, The Moscow Times reports:

New documents confirm that the Kremlin property chief approved construction of a posh seaside palace rumored to be a residence for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, despite his explicit denial of any link to the project

...

The first reports about “Putin’s Palace,” allegedly worth $1 billion, appeared in December, when St. Petersburg-based businessman Sergei Kolesnikov complained about the project in an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev.

[george76]

Vladimir Putin, a czar is born!

.

ht comments

[GeronL]

OK... where would a lifelong “public servant” get a billion?

[doc1019]

It’s good to be the king. ;-)

[Cicero]

Looks pretty nice. I want one.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Vlad’s shanty will be swank!

[mewykwistmas]

“It’s good to be the king. ;-)”

Until ‘The King is dead, long live the King.’ He will probably hand power to another KGB thug and make an agreement like he did with Yeltsin, stay out of politics and enjoy the money you stole.

[GreenLanternCorps]

[steve86]

Who wants to live in something that looks like an old courthouse? I’d take a 500 sq. ft. casita on the beach over that.

[OldNewYork]

That’s all a billion buys these days? I hope it at least has extensive lands, vineyards, orchards.

[Niuhuru]

Plus teh Presidential brothel.

[gogeo]

I call BS.

We don't have billion $ palaces in the US. What would it take to have a 1B residence in Russia?

[Cicero]

Well, I must admit I wouldn’t venture to take it without a staff of 50, including grooms and gardeners, and a trust fund to pay for the parties I would give there.

[al baby]

[SuperLuminal]

Dang union labor costs! In the old days of communism this could have been built for less than 100K...(Slave labor, confiscated land, and a five-year plan...)

[org.whodat]

So the Russian oil billionaire stole the oil from the people and Putan stole it from him, dang!!!

[duckln]

So a billion in stimulus went to the people that built it and then that gets multiplied by ~3 into the economy?
What's wrong with that?

Sounds like too much Russia bashing going on on FR. IMO, that building has more positives than negatives going for it. At least they don't throw their money away like our Democrats do .