Last week, the British newspaper Daily Mail published a sensational article about Putin’s estate in Spain, complete with details such as his supposedly growing exclusive grape varieties.
It was widely reprinted and discussed, although the story is not new. Back in 2012, the Spanish publication reported that it was none other than Putin himself building a palace in an elite gated community near Marbella.
At the beginning of last year, reports began to appear with photos of the construction site at the resort, and the villa was still being attributed to Putin.
Naturally, the Anti-Corruption Foundation could not pass up a find like this.
Putin’s “dacha” was located quite easily. From the satellite image alone, it was obvious that this was not just a country house, but an entire “Putin mountain.” A large and very expensive plot of land—literally an entire mountain bought up—in the ultra-elite La Zagaleta development, with a magnificent view of the Mediterranean and the coastline, supposedly roamed by gays and liberals hostile to Russian people.
The community is gated and cooperative, with new members requiring approval from the other residents; the palace is the largest in the area, perched on an inaccessible mountain behind barbed wire—everything about it bears our president’s signature style.
A conquistador-style expedition equipped with a quadcopter was urgently dispatched to La Zagaleta (they say the name translates from Spanish as “resembling Korsun” (an old East Slavic name for Chersonesus)).
The first doubts began to creep in when, instead of Koni the Labrador or officers from the FSO (Russia’s Federal Protective Service), this is who we saw right on the grounds of “Putin’s dacha”:
We were luckier than the local journalists: the house had already been completed, and cosmetic work was underway on the property. There really was plenty to see.
An enormous villa with several terraces, a swimming pool, underground infrastructure—and all of it on top of a mountain. The mountain itself appears to have been leveled first and then built back up again, incorporating various multi-level gardens and solar panels.
In short, neither the beauty of the local scenery, nor the mountaintop construction, nor the claims made by local journalists pointed to the villa actually belonging to Putin. A residence intended for him would surely be guarded more heavily and include all sorts of security measures.
Slightly disappointed but no less determined, we set out to establish whose country house we had actually visited.
To answer that question, one has to consult the Spanish land registry. Here is the plot on the cadastral image (which also lets you see what was there before construction began).
Here is the same plot with its assigned number. Total area: 17,762 square meters.
The extract from the real estate rights register states that the plot belongs to Xareni Development.
According to the corporate registry, the company is run by a young woman with the thoroughly Spanish name Zoya Ponomaryova:
Señora Zoya also serves as director of several other companies, for example VINO PINO SL, which produces and sells wine. The company is registered at the same address as XARENI, which owns the mountaintop estate.
But what is especially interesting is whom Zoya replaced as director of this winemaking company:
In our view, the Spanish Don Valeri Ponomorev is none other than Valery Andreyevich Ponomaryov, a senator from Kamchatka Krai representing United Russia (the ruling party).
He simply thinks he is the cleverest of them all and that no one will find his Spanish real estate if he signs it over to his daughter.
In 2013, Valery Ponomaryov declared income of 408 million rubles, along with two Bentleys, a Ferrari, and a Porsche. But we see no foreign real estate and no 17,652 square meters of land listed either as owned or in use.
Valery Ponomaryov made his fortune from government contracts: his company Znak LLC supplies state agencies with vehicle license plates as well as all kinds of official forms (for diplomas, fines, ID cards, and so on). The senator is also a co-owner of Okeanrybflot, Kamchatka’s largest fishing company.
Judging by a 2007 interview, Ponomaryov was practically forced to join the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament):
And here is another company belonging to Senator Ponomaryov. Its general director is the now familiar Zoya Ponomaryova.
So it turns out that in Spain’s La Zagaleta, the Anti-Corruption Foundation landed not at Putin’s dacha, but at the dacha of an ordinary patriotic Russian senator, Valery Ponomaryov, registered to a company managed by his daughter Zoya.
The degree of hypocrisy of this “Kremlin patriot” is illustrated not even by the fact that he sits on the international affairs committee, churning out various “anti-Western statements” seven times a day while concealing his Spanish real estate, but by his wonderful remarks about how well declaration oversight is organized in the Federation Council.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation reminds the senator that under the law, property “in use” must also be declared. So if he has been to this dacha or plans to go there (we will find out), he must declare it without delay.
And to be fully thorough and close the matter, we found yet another Spanish company linked to Zoya—HIGH MOUNTAIN HOLIDAY SL (registered at the same address as the previous two).
This company also owns real estate in Spain—specifically, another villa in the same La Zagaleta development.
Here is the plot and the house on the cadastral map:
And here is what it looks like from satellite imagery:
It is the same story here. If Senator Ponomaryov from Kamchatka, that great expert in international affairs, swims in this pool (and we have no doubt he does), then this property should be listed in his declaration.
The situation is similar to the now-famous “Neverov’s mother-in-law”. Once again, we see how useless the declaration system that Putin and Medvedev are so proud of really is. Relatives who have reached adulthood fall outside it, giving crooks a way to circumvent the law.
In essence, they are breaking the law, but in court they bat their eyes and say (as Neverov did): it all belongs to my mother-in-law, and I do not even walk along these paths.
In the beautiful Russia of the future that we will build, we will easily eliminate these tricks. I would note that even in our draft law against “illicit enrichment”, we accounted for such schemes.
Even if this dacha does not belong to Putin, Russian citizens still ought to know more about the lifestyle and real estate holdings of officials in the “hostile West,” so thanks in advance to everyone who shares this post.
Please especially send it on to acquaintances, friends, and relatives in Kamchatka and the Russian Far East in general. They may find it interesting reading, given that not a single region of the Far East is considered economically developed.