Vladimir Putin has a habit of collecting dazzling properties around the globe, most of which he doesn't want us to know about. But his world has shrunk since he launched his illegal war in Ukraine and now many of those homes are out of reach – particularly the secret Crimean holiday homes he went to ridiculous lengths to protect. With an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court hanging over his head and Ukrainian drone strikes threatening his Russian homes, the dictator reportedly "lives in constant fear of being killed." Now, one of Putin's former bodyguards has defected and revealed to the world just how paranoid the Russian leader has become. Click or scroll on to find out more...

Vitaly Brizhatiy worked for Putin's Federal Protection Service, guarding one of the Russian president's previously undisclosed holiday homes in Crimea, an area of Ukraine illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, according to independent Russian TV station, TV Rain. Following the outbreak of war in 2022, Brizhatiy defected and fled to Ecuador, but prior to that he handled the guard dogs on Putin's estate in Olyva, an area of the Crimean south coast long favoured by the Ukrainian and Russian elite. He revealed that the paranoid leader barely trusts his own security team and is so worried about assassination attempts that he's too afraid to let anyone but a bodyguard operate his washing machine. "This is how much that man fears for his life," Brizhatiy said. "Even the position of washing machine operator had to be staffed by an officer."

Long a fan of the beautiful Crimean coastline, Putin reportedly used to enjoy the use of a dacha in Foros, just along the coast from Olyva, according to The Guardian. Putin reportedly fell for state dacha number one, known as Wisteria, when he visited the area in 2003 and declared his "love for this small corner of Russia". The luxurious holiday home is said to have indoor and outdoor pools as well as spa facilities. Just two years later, the home miraculously came to be owned by the Russian bank VTB and was listed as "the official residence of the president of Russia in Crimea." Locals said it was Putin's in everything but name. Putin's holidays on the southern peninsula didn't last long however, as Ukraine's then-PM, Viktor Yushchenko (pictured with Putin in Crimea in 2010), wrestled the dacha back from Moscow at a cost of $785,000 (£641k), which was estimated to be around a third of its value.

It appears Putin wasn't to be kept from the Black Sea for long, however. After the annexation of Crimea, the Russian despot is rumoured to have claimed not one but two holiday mansions on the coveted coastline. Pictured here is the alleged location of state dachas six and eight, according to anti-Kremlin outlet Proekt. The compound, which is strongly believed to be used by the Russian president, reportedly boasts a spa complex, winter garden, fountains, a beach-side swimming pool, several private jetties, a helipad and dormitories for staff. 

Elsewhere on the acreage, a new ice rink, dubbed the 'ice palace', is said to have been built. Its white metal frame is circled in this image obtained by Proekt. Meanwhile, a tennis court was allegedly turned into a dojo for the judo-loving president. It is thought to be this sprawling Crimean "fantasy palace" that Vitaly Brizhatiy guarded. According to Brizhatiy, Putin even deployed armed divers to search for assassins at his beachfront dacha. The claim is backed up by Olyva locals, who told Proekt that they were sunbathing on the beach when they were confronted by divers who appeared from the water demanding to see their documentation.

Putin's rumoured dachas are flanked by two further compounds (more on those in a moment) and the whole territory is protected by security guards, cameras, thick brick walls and this 19-foot-high solid metal fence that zigzags across the beautiful landscape. Brizhatiy describes the area as a luxurious "mini-city," but it seems no amount of luxury can make Putin feel quite safe enough. According to the former security guard, staff had to hand over their phones on arrival and the Russian dictator often gave false information to his own security team, keeping everyone second-guessing his true location. "People were told 'he’s resting at the dacha' and everybody is running around guarding him but he could be in another place altogether," Brizhaty said. 

Immediately to the west of Putin's alleged holiday homes lie state dachas number nine and 10 (pictured), which have been occupied by different bigwigs since the annexation. This compound has indoor and outdoor pools, a steam bath and sauna, as well as a sports and recreation complex that was given a 90 million ruble ($936k/£764k) facelift in 2017. A similar amount was also allegedly spent on equipment for automated life support systems. Former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was seen here multiple times after the annexation of Crimea, according to the Proekt investigation. Former staff reportedly described him as a "normal guy", although they found his wife Svetlana "strict and demanding." Sources suggest staff favoured his predecessor, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who "greeted and talked to everyone" and whose wife gave gifts to employees at the end of their stay.

Directly to the east of Putin's dachas is the "most guarded" facility in Crimea: Military Unit 55002 (pictured). It's hidden behind double fences and guarded with hourly patrols, over 100 cameras, signal booby traps, observation platforms and a "jammer tower" that disrupts drone signals. Suspicious boats that stray too close to the shore are intercepted by security guards on jet skis, according to Proekt. It is in this elite enclave that the very highest ranking members of the FSB and FSO allegedly come to holiday – including the FSB boss himself, Alexander Bortnikov. The extraordinary estate reportedly has everything a spy might want on vacation, including a lavish main house, stone-clad guest cottages, four helipads, swimming pools, a beach bar with a fireplace, a pavillion, sauna, tennis court and elaborate terraced gardens. This stretch of land has long been the province of the wealthy and powerful...

The state dachas are built on the site where an ancient country estate (pictured) once stood. Constructed in 1909 by the Kokorevs, a wealthy Russian merchant family, the luxurious residence is said to have housed a huge collection of Russian arts and crafts, as well as treasures from China, Japan and Egypt, and a variety of rich fabrics and carpets. The opulence of the collection apparently gave the palace "worldwide fame." In 1922, the estate was nationalised and became a retreat for Russia's leadership. Lenin was expected at the palace in 1924, but he died shortly before he was able to visit. Although the palace itself was blown up by the Red Army in 1941, some of the manicured gardens remain today – you can still make them out in the aerial photos of the compounds.

In a sad contrast to the riches channelled into this small stretch of coastline, local Crimeans whose families have lived on the land for generations are being denied the rights to their own land. Since October 2016, no one whose property falls inside the wider protected zone (which stretches from the shoreline all the way up into the mountains) can register ownership, even if they inherit the property. The hundreds of people who live in Olyva believe they will eventually be "forced to leave their homes or be evicted", Proekt reported. On 16 September 2023, Russian officials announced they plan to sell 100 "nationalised properties" in Crimea, including an apartment that used to belong to Volodymyr Zelensky. All this for holiday homes it's unlikely Putin and his cronies will be able to use any time soon, as Olyva is well within range of Ukranian missiles...

Read on to retrace Putin's property journey, from a one-bed apartment to dazzling dachas and top-secret palaces...

Having started out life in a modest one-room apartment in Soviet Leningrad, Vladimir Putin now lives like a pampered tsar. While he wages war on Ukraine, he enjoys the run of multiple grand presidential residences and it is said, no end of clandestine palaces, sprawling estates, decadent dachas and other ostentatious mansions we're not supposed to know about. Click or scroll through to tour the Russian leader's staggering array of official – and unofficial –  properties, from the sumptuous Constantine Palace in St Petersburg to the infamous 'Putin Palace' on the Black Sea coast.

Born on 7 October 1952, Putin spent his formative years in a cold and grim one-room communal apartment in this building in Leningrad – which reverted to St Petersburg in 1991. Together with his parents, factory worker Maria and naval conscript Vladimir, Putin shared a filthy toilet and spartan kitchen with several neighbours. According to his autobiography, First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait, the future Russian leader would often chase the rats that plagued the building with sticks.

An escape of sorts came in the form of the family's rustic cabin in the village of Tosno around 35 miles south-west of St Petersburg, where the clan spent their summers. An able albeit mischievous student, Putin did reasonably well at school and went on to study law at Leningrad State University. After graduating in 1975, he joined the Committee for State Security (KGB), the USSR's notorious secret service. In 1977, his father was granted a two-bedroom apartment and Putin, at the age of 25, had his own bedroom for the first time.

After reportedly jilting a woman at the altar, Putin met Lyudmila Shkrebneva when a mutual friend invited them both to the theatre. The pair married in 1983. Following their nuptials, Putin worked for a time in Moscow and even allegedly took undercover visits to New Zealand under various aliases, including fronting as a shoe salesman. 

Following the birth of his first daughter Maria in 1985, the KGB agent was posted to Dresden in what was then known as East Germany. He lived with his young family in a basic apartment in this communist block. The Putins' second daughter Katerina was born in 1986. They ended up staying in East Germany until its collapse in 1990.

Together with his wife and daughters, Putin returned to Leningrad and bagged a job advising its mayor, Anatoly Sobchak. In 1991, he reportedly resigned from the KGB to focus on his political aspirations. Three years later, the budding politician was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Government of Saint Petersburg. In the process, he secured a plush apartment in this building on the renamed city's Vasilyevsky Island.

In 1996, Putin moved with his family to Moscow. He landed a job in the Kremlin, overseeing the transfer of property assets from the former Soviet Union to the Russian Federation. He was allocated a 1,654-square-foot apartment in this block on Akademika Zelinskogo Street in the city's upmarket Gagarinsky District. According to the latest official Kremlin disclosure of the Russian leader's income and assets, this unit as well as another apartment in St Petersburg, are listed as his only properties.

No interior photos of Putin's government-leased pad have been released, but here's a similar-sized apartment in the building to give you an idea of how it may look. The spacious property has a large open-plan living and dining room, kitchen, office, bedroom and three bathrooms. This particular unit was listed to rent for 170,000 roubles a month, which is a fairly reasonable $1,800 (£1.4k) considering the location and supposed prestige of the building.

From 1996 onwards, Putin's ascent can only be described as meteoric. After finding favour with the then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin, he was appointed the leader's deputy chief of staff and subsequently became the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB. He was then cherry-picked by Yeltsin in August 1999 to serve as prime minister. A month after his appointment, Russia was rocked by a series of apartment bombings, which some say Putin and the FSB orchestrated as false flags to advance his political career.

Whether Putin was ultimately behind the bombings or not, what is certain is that they cemented his image as a tough law-and-order leader and boosted his standing immensely with the Russian people. The attacks were blamed on Chechen rebels and were used by Putin as justification for the Second Chechen War. When Yeltsin resigned in December 1999, Putin was made acting president. He went on to win a snap presidential election the following March thanks to his new-found popularity. As president, Putin got to call the Grand Kremlin Palace his official working residence.

Built in the 1830s and 1840s as a residence for Tsar Nicholas I, the iconic structure within the venerable Moscow Kremlin was later used as a meeting place for the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The dazzlingly ornate palace became the official working residence of the Russian president following the collapse of the USSR. Its grandest rooms are the five reception halls, one of which, the Hall of the Order of St Alexander Nevsky, is shown here.

Putin doesn't live in the palace but conducts most of his official business there since it's his central Moscow base. The president's wood-panelled office is located in the north wing of the building. Putin is pictured here in one of the presidential rooms with Yury Borisov, director of Roscosmos, the state corporation that oversees the Russian space industry. Intriguingly, according to Putin's former bodyguard Gleb Karakulov, the paranoid leader has installed identical offices in his various residences around Russia in a bid to throw off potential assassins.

Elsewhere in the building is a conference room graced with the infamous 20-foot-long conference table that Putin apparently uses to intimidate other world leaders. Crafted from white-lacquered beechwood inlaid with gold leaf, the viral piece of furniture was actually made in 1995 during Yeltsin's presidency by luxury Italian manufacturer OAK.

After storming to victory in the March 2000 presidential election, Putin selected Novo-Ogaryovo as his official suburban Moscow home. The swish property, which served as a state residence and guest house for foreign dignitaries during the Soviet era, is where Putin spends much of his time. It was also where he isolated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Incredibly, the Russian leader was granted the right to reside in the property for good at the end of his second presidential term in 2008.

Though Putin doesn't own it per se, he might as well since the Russian leader effectively has use of it forever. The residence is located in the elite neighbourhood of Rublyovka to the west of Moscow. Dubbed Russia's Beverly Hills, the locale is loaded with billionaires' mansions, high-end fashion stores, supercar dealerships and other trappings of extreme wealth. Over the years, the dictator has renovated and added to the estate, creating an exceedingly lavish compound.

The complex consists of the 19th-century palace built for Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and a whole lot more besides. Putin is shown here posing in his office in the elegant building. Architect Stanislav Chekalyov, who claims to have worked on the property in 2021, revealed some fascinating details about the extensive presidential compound, which is rarely photographed in its entirety.

Among the reported features are a six-storey reception building, a private hospital, a vast sports and wellbeing complex, an ice rink, a pool, a luxe log cabin, a private church for Putin and his family, a heliport and a private bridge. Chekalyov says a $15 million (£12.2m) sauna was built on the property, but it burned down in 2021 having never been used. Here's Putin in 2010 in the residence's ornate main building with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Among Putin's other official residences is Bocharov Ruchey, the Russian president's summer sanctuary in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympic Games were held. Dating from 1955, the president's warm-season residence has hosted a number of world leaders, including former US President George W Bush, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and former British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is pictured here with Putin outside the pad in 2013.

Putin is shown here with the former pro-Russian president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych in 2013 in one of the residence's reception rooms. When it comes to décor, the residence is rather on the minimal side for the Kremlin boss, who appears to be fond of wall-to-wall bling. However, it does feature a fairly ornate fireplace, a gilded clock, reproduction Louis XIV furniture and polished marble floors.

While it's said to feature two pools and a helipad, the Soviet-era part of the complex isn't as lavish as the leader's other residences. However, a new, more imposing wing was constructed in 2014, coinciding with the Winter Olympic Games held that year in Sochi. Style-wise, it's drawn comparisons to the pared-down 1930s neoclassicism favoured by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Putin's second presidential term ended in 2008 and he was unable at the time to run again as per the Russian Constitution, which limits presidents to two consecutive terms. After a stint as prime minister, he returned to the presidency in 2012 but signed a law in 2021 that could potentially keep him in office until 2036. As his grip on power has tightened, Putin has become increasingly authoritarian. Always keen to present a macho image of himself to the Russian people, Putin is shown here in 2015 working out at the Sochi residence.

Putin idolises Peter the Great and shares the 18th-century leader's aspiration of returning “Russian lands” to a wider empire, much to the detriment of the Ukrainian people. It's fitting therefore that the land-hungry president oversaw the transformation of the grandiose Constantine Palace, aka the Konstantinovsky Palace, in St Petersburg, which is now the heart of an official presidential residence called the National Congress Palace. Construction of the property was started by Peter the Great, though it was completed after his death.

Putin ordered a majestic restoration of the former summer residence of the Russian tsars and Grand Dukes of the Romanov dynasty in 2001, not long after he was elected president. He envisaged the property as a place for him to stay in his hometown, as well as a showcase pad to host foreign heads of state and prestigious international conferences. The renovation of the palace, which boasts more than 1,000 rooms, was quite the undertaking, to say the least.

Eight subcontractors, 70 companies and thousands of workers toiled away on the project, which is reported to have cost between $170 million (£138m) and $200 million (£163m), an enormous amount of money that could be seen as wasteful given the dire state of Russia's finances at the time. But what Putin wants, Putin gets, and he really did push the boat out on his maritime palace. Highlights of the property include the splendid Baroque-style Blue Hall.

The beguiling Marble Hall is equally breathtaking. Putin's apartments are located in the west wing of the building and are no doubt as opulent as the staterooms. The palace is also famed for its grounds. Spanning 370 acres, they are intersected by a network of canals and dotted with stunning buildings, including a grand pavilion and a number of regal red-brick homes.

Putin is also said to emulate the 19th-century Prussian and later German leader Otto von Bismarck. This additional presidential residence, the Yantar Palace in Kaliningrad was allegedly built on the site of von Bismarck's long-destroyed home in the exclave, which was formerly known as Königsberg, but this has not been officially confirmed. Completed in 2011, it was opened by the then-Russian president and later prime minister Dmitry Medvedev and apparently has never actually hosted Putin, despite officially belonging to the Office of the President.

Lake Valdai, in the Novgorod region of north-western Russia, is home to a number of islands – the 17th-century Valday Iversky Monastery, pictured here, occupies an isle in the middle of the lake. The islands and much of the large peninsula on the lake's eastern side belong to the Russian government. Known as Dolgiye Borody ('Long Beards') and Uzhin, as well as Valdai, the official presidential residence is said to span 2,298 acres and contains a number of guest houses, including Stalin's Dacha, aka Dacha Number One.

The dacha was built for the Soviet dictator in the 1930s, hence the name, but it's said he only stayed at the residence once. The complex of buildings on the site is collectively called the Valdai Rest House and includes a sprawling multi-storey hotel and large Russian-style cottages in addition to the more bijou dachas, all of which can be rented by the public. Amenities include restaurants, a pool, gym, volleyball court and a cinema.

The official government-owned facility is located in the top part of this Google Earth satellite image. In the bottom right-hand part of the picture is Putin's alleged secret compound, details of which were exposed in 2021 by activists from the organisation headed by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Then in February 2023, independent news site Proekt published a report revealing further details, including photos of the blingy interior of Putin's purported lakeside palace.

A self-contained village, the collection of around 80 buildings is situated on a 247-acre holding ostensibly owned, according to activists, by Yuri Kovalchuk, the billionaire financier dubbed "Putin's personal banker", and leased by the Russian government. The covert forest hideaway encompasses a variety of structures, from the alleged palace to guesthouses, rustic wood cabins, a Chinese pavilion, a state-of-the-art spa complex and an exquisitely constructed Russian Orthodox church, as well as a restaurant, cinema, bowling alley and mini casino.

Rumour has it that the president fell in love with the idyllic spot in the early 2000s and made arrangements in 2003 for Kovalchuk to acquire the deeds to the acreage before commissioning the construction of an array of luxurious buildings. The most palatial of the structures is, of course, Putin's alleged lakeside palace, which is shown here in one of the pictures published by Proekt. The Navalny activists were also able to get hold of exterior shots of the property but no images came to light of the interior. 

Proekt, on the other hand, did manage to source photos purportedly showing the inside of the clandestine palace. Their report includes pictures of the residence's elusive interior sourced from a contractor, which were independently verified by their team. According to the Daily Mail, Putin is said to be furious about the leaked images and information, which were published on 28 February 2023. This shot is of a lavish space in the mansion that the Proekt sleuths have called the silver living room.

Other highlights include the golden living room, the glitzy white dining room, a music room graced with a $158,000 (£129k) concert grand piano and a “night cellar” almost completely covered in gold leaf. There's also a spa complete with a pool, hammam, Jacuzzi and more, but it isn't the only wellness complex on the compound. Elsewhere, the retreat wows with what the Navalny activists describe as “Putin's temple of asceticism”. The 75,000-square-foot complex features everything from massage rooms to a float pool, a dental surgery, a cryotherapy chamber and a cosmetologist room.

The Chinese pavilion is pictured here. Elsewhere, there's said to be a private railway station on the site, which is purportedly part of a larger network that connects Putin's properties to his private presidential terminal at Moscow-Kalanchevskaya station. Moreover, Proekt has claimed Putin escapes to the retreat to be with his former Olympic gymnast girlfriend Alina Kabaeva and their alleged children, who have a home at the estate. Putin divorced his first wife, Lyudmila, in 2013 but is rumoured to have begun a relationship with Kabaeva in 2008.

Back in 2012, opposition politicians Boris Nemtsov and Leonid Martynyuk co-authored a report in which they claimed to highlight Putin's official and unofficial residences, along with other eye-popping assets the president has access to. All in all, the duo uncovered details of 20 uber-luxurious properties and compared Putin's lifestyle to that of a “Persian Gulf monarch or a flamboyant oligarch.” The long list of unofficial residences identified by the report includes the mega-mansion on the Black Sea coast dubbed 'Putin's Palace', which is said to have cost an eye-watering $1.4 billion (£1.1bn).

Having crossed Putin, the report's authors were clearly marked men. Martynyuk ended up fleeing to the US in 2014. Tragically, Nemtsov was assassinated in Moscow the following year. Fortunately, their work has been taken up by other activists, including those working with Navalny, who released a viral video on 'Putin's Palace' in 2021 packed with details about the residence.

Fit for a tsar, never mind a president, the residence is ridiculously opulent. The Nalavny activists assert it's the most expensive palace in the world and that it was funded by the largest bribe in history. Construction of the mega-mansion, which sits on an estate 39 times the size of Monaco near the resort town of Gelendzhik, began in 2005 and the property has reportedly been rebuilt several times due to problems with mould.

Designed by Italy's Lanfranco Cirillo, a favoured architect among Russia's elite, the elaborate Italianate-style palace encompasses a vast 190,000 square feet, making it more than three times bigger than the White House. The residence is said to have 11 bedrooms and no end of luxe living space, including an ornate reading room apparently inspired by the Kremlin's Georgievsky Hall, the fortress' grandest stateroom.

Absolutely zero expense has been spared on the property, which boasts exquisite craftsmanship and sumptuous decoration. Among the other rooms of note are a deluxe gilded theatre, a lap-dancing room and hookah lounge (pictured) and Putin's magnificent master bedroom. Outside, there's an “aqua disco”, underground ice hockey rink and an exquisite Byzantine-style church, not to mention a mammoth restaurant and entertainment complex and a winery.

As well as its luxe amenities, the palace is also said to be equipped with some serious safety features too. The Russian leader is incredibly vigilant about security and has allegedly built secret tunnels and a bunker beneath the Black Sea mansion, according to an investigation by Business Insider. Drone images released by Navalny activists have revealed what appear to be concealed exits in the rock face below the palace. Leaked plans for the bunker suggest that it could be wired up with electricity, internet and telecoms, as well as water and sewage, enabling the Russian leader to live underground for a sustained period.

Putin's concerns about safety aren't unfounded either. In late May 2023, news emerged that Russian FSB security services had foiled a bomb plot targeting the president's rumoured Black Sea palace. An individual was reportedly detained on suspicion of 'terrorist offences' in the vast woodlands surrounding the Gelendzhik mansion, which is patrolled by officials. These screengrabs, taken from a video from the FSB broadcast on Russia Today, show Russian soldiers in military fatigues handcuffing the suspect.

The FSB branded the suspect a "supporter of Ukrainian neo-Nazism". In a statement, they said: "A ready-to-use improvised explosive device was seized from a cache equipped by the radical in a wooded area on the outskirts of the settlement." Russian authorities, who do not acknowledge the existence of Putin's alleged mansion, said the planned detonation was an intended attack on a law enforcement facility. The region surrounding the estate is said to be enclosed by security checkpoints.

FSB officials also said that they had confiscated manuals detailing the assembly of explosive devices from the suspect. The video released by the agency reportedly shows the seizure of materials and components used in bomb-making from a nearby residential address. The suspect has been charged with preparing a terrorist attack. If found guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

Then there's what independent Russian news site Meduza has christened “Putin's other palace”. First exposed by Russian newspaper Sobesednik, the 40,900-square-foot dwelling is located near a ski resort in the Krasnodar region and has its own cable car, helipad, sauna and swimming pool. Putin is also rumoured to own an estate in Siberia's Altai Mountains, which reportedly houses a nuclear bunker akin to an underground city. Other alleged residences of the Russian leader include a château near Paris likened to the Palace of Versailles and a multimillion-euro villa near Marbella in Spain.

In recent years, other lavish properties purported to be owned by Putin have come to light. They include a mysterious new palace in the elite Greenfield development near Moscow. Sprawling over a 15-acre walled estate, the palatial abode, which is listed as belonging to the “Russian Federation”, reportedly features a helipad, football field, stables and its own forest. It's pictured at the top of this photo encircled by trees.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has revealed yet another lavish property linked to Putin, which was first reported on in 2016 by TV network Dozhd. Consisting of several ultra-contemporary mansions with modest-sounding names such as the Fisherman's Hut and Garden House, the futuristic property on Lake Lagoda near St Petersburg is anything but modest, with $10,800 (£8.8k) bidets, gemstone-encrusted marble, a private brewery, two pools and other high-end amenities. Who knows how many residences Putin really has? 

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