The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has denied that a lavish palace built on Russia’s Black Sea coast belongs to him, following a video exposé by the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.
In a sign that Navalny’s investigation has touched a nerve with the Kremlin, Putin took the unusual step of claiming he had nothing to do with the property. It neither “belongs to or ever belonged to me or my close relatives. Ever,” Putin declared.
