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Russian President Vladimir Putin has a hiding place in the form of a giant underground tunnel built not far from a luxurious palace on the shores of the Black Sea. Photo/The Telegraph
MOSCOW – President of Russia Vladimir Putin has a hiding place in the form of a giant underground tunnel built not far from a luxurious palace on the shores of the Black Sea.
It was revealed after a diagram of the tunnel was posted online by the engineering company working on the project and is now widely circulated.
Putin has long been said to have ordered the construction of the giant tunnel, which lies some 50 meters beneath the surface, out of fear for its survival in the event of revolution or war.
The underground complex was built before Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, when Putin was still maintaining warm ties with European powers.
His £1 billion palace—complete with church, ice rink, casino and hookah lounge—spreads 190,000 square feet on the seafront.
The tunnel’s existence, which was first reported by Business Insider, is only known because the Russian construction company that built it posted a diagram online as proof of the superiority of their work.
Metro Style, an engineering company hired to excavate the underground tunnels, published the drawings on its website in the early 2010s, describing the project as an “underground complex for a resort” in Gelendzhik, the city closest to Putin’s palace.
The diagram shows a bunker with its own ventilation system, as well as sewer and fresh water supply.
Reinforcing the walls is a 15-inch concrete shell and the entire 6,500-square-foot underground complex.
