Not only the war in Ukraine, referendums and nuclear threats. Putin’s parallel work moves between real estate matters. The Russian President is poised to make hundreds of millions of pounds from a property deal in an exclusive area of London. According to the Mail, Russia is building 255 apartments on a site in Kensington bought in 2006 for £8million with the help of an offshore company. The tsar plans to use the program’s huge profits to renovate embassy buildings in the capital and fund Kremlin activities.
The woman behind Putin’s London affair
Behind the deal is a convicted corruption Moscow-based banker, Elena Kotova, whose name (according to papers read by the Mail) appears on planning applications to Kensington and Chelsea Council. Kotova lost her job at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) after a corruption conviction in 2014.
Putler is said to be making hundreds of millions of pounds from a luxury development in an exclusive area of London. ruZZia is building 255 homes on a site in Kensington it bought in 2006 for £8million with the help of an offshore company. https://t.co/SbwQcWT4KU
– Mavka Slavka 🧜♀️🌻 (@MavkaSlavka) October 2, 2022
The country to be developed
The UK’s National Crime Agency also concluded that from 2005 to 2011 Kotova had solicited bribes for EBRD green-light projects and as a result seized her £1.5million London flat, along with £230,000 in cash. She continues to protest her innocence. Land registry documents show that the Russian Foreign Ministry and a state bank bought the land to be developed at Warwick Road, Kensington. Numerous planning applications for the site have been submitted since 2008 and were approved by Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2012.
Profits in the hundreds of millions
Based on similar developments, the Kremlin will turn its £8m investment into hundreds of millions. The news that Moscow is profiting from property speculation in Britain while it wages a costly war in Ukraine will inevitably cause major controversy. Elsewhere in London, Kremlin properties include at least 12 apartments and houses in central London. His portfolio is valued at £100m. The Russian embassy contacted by the Mail did not respond to a request for comment.
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