Vladimir Putin’s £1bn palace of pleasure: Grander than Versailles, it’s a monument to the Russian leader’s vanity – complete with lap-dancing room and ice hockey rink… allegedly paid for by oligarchs desperate for his patronage, writes RICHARD KAY

High on a clifftop overlooking a vast bay empty of shipping thanks to a mile-wide exclusion zone imposed by its autocratic owner, a giant glistening palace built to one man’s ludicrous vainglory peeps through a woodland screen. For years ‘living like royalty’ has been the phrase by which ordinary people have focused their envies and ambitions. But this gargantuan, surreal edifice, which swarms over 190,000 square feet, is beyond the delusions of grandeur of even the maddest of acquisitive monarchs. In size and opulence it makes the homes of our Royal Family look positively diminutive and threadbare — and that is before we take so much as a glimpse through the keyhole. For inside it is a temple to gaudy vulgarity and a monument to money-no-object bad taste. A palace swarming over 190,000sqft on Russia’s southern Black Sea coast (pictured) is said to belong to Russian leader Vladimir Putin RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next ‘Inside’ Putin’s £1billion palace: Theatre, casino, strip… ‘You can be killed any minute’: Grim warning of former… Putin ‘has slush fund to pay for his mistresses and their… Putin defies rumours about his health by dipping into… Share this article Share 84 shares Were it a film… Read full this story

Vladimir Putin's £1bn palace of pleasure: Grander than Versailles, it's a monument to the Russian leader's vanity - complete with lap-dancing room and ice hockey rink... allegedly paid for by oligarchs desperate for his patronage, writes RICHARD KAY have 244 words, post on www.dailymail.co.uk at January 20, 2021. This is cached page on Europe Breaking News. If you want remove this page, please contact us.