Opposition: Putin's lifestyle costs billions a year
Source: Agencies |
August 29, 2012, Wednesday
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RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin is spending billions of taxpayers' rubles on 20 luxurious residences, 43 jets and four yachts, a top opposition leader claimed yesterday.
All heads of state use government property and funds for presentation purposes, but Boris Nemtsov said in a report that Putin's lifestyle is far more lavish than his Western counterparts.
Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, estimated that the maintenance of Putin's residences, jets and cars alone costs US$2.5 billion a year.
"Putin has been mistaking government property for his own for a long time," Nemtsov said. "This is an insolent, cynical and luxurious lifestyle at taxpayers' expense."
After parts of the report appeared online on Monday, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskoy said: "All of this is government property and Putin uses it all legally as an elected president."
The report, titled "The Life of A Galley Slave" after an epithet Putin used in 2008 to describe the hardships of his first two presidencies, is based largely on news reports. It includes numerous photographs.
Opposition members have long claimed that Putin had more than a dozen luxurious residencies built or renovated for him throughout Russia - from an imperial palace in his native St Petersburg to resorts on the Black Sea to hunting grounds in national parks.
Many ordinary Russians seemed indifferent to the opponents who revelled in eye-catching details in the report, such as the US$75,000 toilet on a presidential jet. The authors also identified from photographs a total of 11 luxury timepieces on the wrist of the head of state and calculated their total value at some US$700,000, while noting Putin has declared an annual income less than US$115,000.
"Russian authorities and leaders have always been famous for their rather luxurious ways. This is a historical pattern and Putin is not the first to live a fairly luxurious life," said Yelena Malmova, a first-year university student in Moscow.
"Personally, I don't care," she said. "For me, how well he does his job is most important."
Despite a wave of protests this winter, Putin remains popular among average Russians.
All heads of state use government property and funds for presentation purposes, but Boris Nemtsov said in a report that Putin's lifestyle is far more lavish than his Western counterparts.
Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, estimated that the maintenance of Putin's residences, jets and cars alone costs US$2.5 billion a year.
"Putin has been mistaking government property for his own for a long time," Nemtsov said. "This is an insolent, cynical and luxurious lifestyle at taxpayers' expense."
After parts of the report appeared online on Monday, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskoy said: "All of this is government property and Putin uses it all legally as an elected president."
The report, titled "The Life of A Galley Slave" after an epithet Putin used in 2008 to describe the hardships of his first two presidencies, is based largely on news reports. It includes numerous photographs.
Opposition members have long claimed that Putin had more than a dozen luxurious residencies built or renovated for him throughout Russia - from an imperial palace in his native St Petersburg to resorts on the Black Sea to hunting grounds in national parks.
Many ordinary Russians seemed indifferent to the opponents who revelled in eye-catching details in the report, such as the US$75,000 toilet on a presidential jet. The authors also identified from photographs a total of 11 luxury timepieces on the wrist of the head of state and calculated their total value at some US$700,000, while noting Putin has declared an annual income less than US$115,000.
"Russian authorities and leaders have always been famous for their rather luxurious ways. This is a historical pattern and Putin is not the first to live a fairly luxurious life," said Yelena Malmova, a first-year university student in Moscow.
"Personally, I don't care," she said. "For me, how well he does his job is most important."
Despite a wave of protests this winter, Putin remains popular among average Russians.
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