Putin’s perks: Nice work

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

Putin’s perks: Nice work – The Economist – September 1, 2012

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The Economist covers a report by Boris Yeltsin deputy prime minister, and current opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov, addressing or alleging the life of  wealth and luxury enjoyed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nemtsov and journalist Leonid Martynuk suggest Putin is motivated to maintain a grip on power to maintain a lavish lifestyle, including out of public funds:

The president has 20 residences, from the Constantine Palace outside St Petersburg, a Tsarist-era estate restored in 2003 for tens of million of dollars, to the Dolgiye Borodi residence on Lake Valdai in northwest Russia. In 2009 Mr Putin is widely believed to have hosted Bjorn Again (a band that plays songs by the Swedish group Abba) for a personal concert there. His fleet of planes includes a Russian-made Ilyushin with a $75,000 toilet and ornamentation crafted by artisans from the monastery town of Sergiyev Posad. Systematic surveys of the presidential wrist reveal a watch collection worth more than $680,000, the authors reckon. Of the four yachts in Mr Putin’s collection, the authors allege, one was a gift from Russian businessmen. All of this adds up, the report’s authors say, to a lifestyle worthy of a “Persian Gulf monarch or a flamboyant oligarch.”

The Kremlin reportedly refused to comment, other than a blanket dismissal of the allegations as nonsense.  It is true that at least some of the properties listed as available for Putin’s use are open for other uses when he is not there.  On the other hand, there is also the “mysterious palace on the Black Sea, built for an unknown client, with money from an unknown source, that some believe is Mr Putin’s 21st home.”

The Economist went on to address documented, rising public concern in Russia over public corruption.  Although it considers that there is some question of how the public concern will be directed.  The public seems bothered by corruption, for example, but most bothered by problems impacting daily life, such as bad infrastructure life problem roads.

The report accusing Putin of publicly-funded wealth and luxury was called “The Life of a Galley Slave,” questioning Putin’s claim in a past year that he worked long hours living the humble, arduous life of a galley slave.

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