Putin Blows Up Russian ‘Mar-a-Lago’

Drone phobia reveals limitations on his ambitions in Ukraine

Putin has demolished the main building in his private retreat on the Black Sea, in an evident bid to escape the possibility of drone attacks during his stays there.

The Bocharov Ruchey residence is/was located on a cliff edge overlooking the Black Sea. It was thought to be Putin’s favorite getaway; he stayed there during the COVID pandemic when he received the test kits from Trump.

Formerly valued at $1.5-billion, it is now worth the price of dirt.

By comparison, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is worth between $75- $750-million, depending on whether you believe the attorney general of New York or Donald Trump.  When Trump goes to jail after the election, his new residence will have a dirt walkway, so perhaps the two pals are not dissimilar in their prospects.

Putin’s residence featured Italian-type architectural design and includes many buildings, with the main one being the president’s two-story dacha. Nearby, there are two guest cottages intended for high-ranking visitors.  It sits on 40 hectares (100 acres) of land – about 50 city blocks -  all heavily guarded, with a helicopter base nearby. 

He even had a replica of his Moscow office built in the summer home to create the illusion that he was in the Russian capital, still in control.

It was near the town of Sochi, which may be a familiar name to those who followed he 2014 Winter Olympics.

It is defended by the Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense surface-to-air missile system.

A partisan movement helpfully published the coordinates of the property: 43.534815, 39.813225.  It said that this would be useful in planning operations to eliminate military installations; it called on Russian servicemen to cooperate.

When Putin invaded Ukraine, no doubt the furthest thing on his mind as a by-product was the incidental destruction of an historic Russian landmark.

The villa was built in 1934 at the initiative of the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs.  It was reconstructed in 1955 and soon became a favorite vacation spot for Soviet leaders.

With the collapse of the USSR, Bocharov Ruchey became the only Russian government-level dacha on the Black Sea and was designated as the official residence of the Russian president.

In addition to the study and bedrooms, it had rooms for receiving guests, security, and guest apartments. On the second floor, there was a living room that can accommodate up to 20 people, and on the ground floor, there was a cinema hall. The building featured high ceilings and panoramic windows.

The property also featured two swimming pools, a helicopter pad, a greenhouse complex, a garden area, a vegetable garden, and a sports complex.  The 190,000 square foot complex had its own church, wine cellar, casino, hookah lounge, stripper pole, arboretum, ice rink and security systems.  It came complete with a complex tunnel system designed for Putin’s safety; they were supplied with fresh water, were well ventilated, and had the ability to withstand a nuclear blast.

Additionally, there was a luxurious beach complex with a canopy, sun loungers, and showers. The beach also included an L-shaped pier for the presidential boat.

Several years ago, an indoor press center with a huge conference room was built in a futuristic style with concrete and glass elements. There was also a public reception area at the gate where visitors could have left messages for Putin.

One of the messages that a visitor was planning to leave for Putin involved an attack by a flight of drones.  Drones have targeted several areas in Sochi since Putin's invasion back in February 2022.

The Russian leader tore down the villa over "fears for his life" following several Ukrainian drone attacks on sites in Sochi, according to a Russian investigative media outlet.

Putin only spent eight days at the residence in 2023, which is markedly less frequent compared to the 30 days he usually spends there annually.  Putin has not visited Sochi or its neighbouring cities in seven months. This is a record for at least the last decade. This year, the Kremlin leader broke a long-standing tradition by not celebrating his mistress’s birthday on the Black Sea site.  The place has been a love nest for his secret partner Alina Kabaeva, 41, and their two young children, Ivan, nine, and Vladimir Junior, five.

(It’s hard to imagine a Vladimir Junior.  “Vlad, why don’t you go outside and invade something…?”)

The buildings at the residence were demolished in March, and now there is just a pit, surrounded by construction equipment at work.

Putin’s fear for the safety of the site follows repeated attacks by Ukrainian drones on the city and damage to a helicopter base.  The Russian opposition news site Proekt (Project) asked: “Why did a luxurious residence need to be demolished given it had been renovated 10 years ago?  The answer is, probably, obvious - because of [Ukrainian] drone attacks, the president is afraid of being on the Black Sea coast of Krasnodar region. In 2023, Putin felt a threat to his physical safety and got scared. A Putin acquaintance confirmed to Proekt that the president is truly afraid to fly south [from Moscow].”

Putin rarely travels by plane anymore; he prefers an armored train.  The trip to the Black Sea would be a bit of a security stretch for a train ride…so many roads to block, so many bridges to cross…

The previous Sochi attack was part of a hit on the Smolensk aircraft factory, of the state-owned Tactical Missiles Corporation.

The walls are closing in on Putin’s personal life.  There was an estate he was very fond of in the Altai mountains of Mongolia.  Two bloggers recently revealed that one of the buildings in the complex was engulfed in an inferno; cause unknown.  The blaze came after other ‘sabotage fires’ at key Russian facilities.

The fire came just hours after Ukraine received a go-ahead to hit inside Russian territories using American weapons.

This might have influenced Putin’s thinking:  at a September meeting of the Defence Industries Forum, Ukrainian president Zelensky said “The total number of drones we are now capable of producing annually in Ukraine is 4 million, with more than 1.5 million already contracted.”

Having gone from a production of zero in 2022 to 4 million today, Ukraine is breaking records for innovation and manufacturing. 

The drones have hit four large Russian ammunition depots, destroying 30,000 tons of Russian ammunition. That represents billions of dollars’ worth of Russian supplies.

They have also hit oil refineries and coal stations.

But they are now going to have to search further afield to hit Putin himself.  After he invaded Ukraine the number of his visits to the Sochi residence had dwindled.  In 2023 he only spent about a week at Bocharov Ruchey, compared with an average of more than a month each year previously.

A 2021 documentary by Alexei Navalny titled “Putin’s Palace” greatly upset Putin.  Navalny died in a Russian Arctic penal colony at the age of 47.  Navalny also revealed that Putin had a personal casino in the home. While casinos are mostly prohibited throughout the country, Navalny said, “everything is possible here.” The documentary includes footage of the casino, billiard room — which Navalny described as “a personal Black Sea Las Vegas” — and a room just for electric toy cars.

“Crazed emperor are the words that come to mind when you see this,” Navalny said in the documentary.

Navalny also alleged that an environmentalist was brutally beaten up after he objected to construction in forest space that was being carved out for a vineyard under Putin’s control.

After his documentary, tens of thousands of Russians protested across the county; almost 4,000 were arrested.

No doubt they will not be mourning the loss of Putin’s villa.  That its destruction was home-made is even better. 

How can a  man who can’t control his villa, control a country like Ukraine?

Maybe a smaller room, with enough space for his electric toy cars, would be a more reasonable scope for Putin’s talents today…