Vladimir Putin owns a gigantic 'royal' yacht worth over half a billion pounds docked in Italy and captained by a Brit, according to a political rival's team.
The investigation, by followers of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny - and allegedly aided by Western intelligence, suggests the Russian President owns the mysterious Scheherazade.
However, he's managed to escape EU personal sanctions brought about following his invasion of Ukraine, and so the mega vessel has not been confiscated, they claim.
It is docked in Marina di Carrara, on the west coast of Italy, and documents reportedly show it is crewed almost entirely by those within the Kremlin's secret services, the FSO and FSB.
The same team revealed Putin's £1billion Black Sea palace and say the hidden purchase of the yacht makes him the richest man in the world.
But the Russian people are said to be completely unaware of it.
The hulking vessel is 140 metres long and consists of six-deck floors - described as being like two apartment blocks on top of each other.
It boasts two helipads, a swimming pool, a spa complex, a beauty salon, huge living rooms and royal cabins.
A video detailing the team's claims comes as Navalny is due to be sentenced again tomorrow, which could see him put away for another 15 years.
In the footage, Georgy Alburov and Maria Pevchikh say despite Putin's apparent hatred of everything European, having claimed everyone "corrupted" by the West is a national traitor, he does dock his boat there.
His daughters also reportedly own property in France in the form of a castle on the Atlantic Ocean.
And Putin's ex-wife, Lyudmila, lives in French Biarritz, in a villa currently under renovation.
While his oligarchs Usmanov, Deripaska and Abramovich live in the West.
The Scheherazade is listed as the 13th largest yacht in the world, behind the Eclipse in third, and owned by Abramovich, and Dilbar, the yacht of the oligarch Usmanov.
But the owner of the former is officially unknown.
In order to 'prove' that Putin owns the palace in Gelendzhik, the rival team produced evidence showing the President's friends are paying for it, that it's registered to some anonymous persons and the FSO was engaged in its construction.
In a similar fashion, they say the owner of the yacht appears to be an offshore company from the Marshall Islands.
In digging deeper, trying to determine who was paying staff salaries, they found a crew list, compiled in the Italian port where the yacht is docked.
British captain Guy Bennett Pierce is at the top.
He was interviewed recently by the New York Times and confirmed the vessel does belong to a Russian but refused to say which one.
The list gives the name of each crew member, as well as other information, including date of birth and visa number.
All permanent employees of the yacht, except for the captain, are Russians, say the investigators.
The crew fly to Moscow on rotation shifts, with Milan being the nearest city to the yacht's wintering and maintenance location.
The team also claims the crew largely work for the FSO, the Federal Protective Service, the agency that protects Putin and organises his life.
Second on the list is the chief officer or second mate, Sergei Grishin.
He is recorded in contact lists as Sergei G FSO.
Next is boatswain Anatoly Furtel.
According to the leaked databases, he is registered at Furmanova St., 10 in Sochi - the same place the Protection Service in the Caucasus of the Federal Protective Service of Russia (SOK FSO) is located.
It's the division of the FSO that takes care of Putin in the Bocharov Ruchey residence, one of his favourites where he spends much of his time and often entertains guests.
Under Furtel is Alexander Pechurkin, listed as boatswain's mate.
He is recorded in the contact lists as Sanya FSB, Guard Bocharov Ruchey, Alexander FSO and Alexander Graceful Procurement.
Graceful is Putin's previous yacht worth over £70million.
After the purchase of Scheherazade, Graceful was re-registered to Putin's friend Gennady Timchenko, investigators claim.
Under Pechurkin is Evgeny Shvedov, the landing hand.
He is registered at the same address as the FSO in Sochi where he holds the role of security officer within the military unit 38974.
Next is Alexander Khristoforov, sailor-carpenter, also an FSO employee registered at Furmanova Street.
Under him is deck dive Sergei Brikalov.
In the contact lists, he appears under the description FSO Sergei Brikalov.
Apparently, he is a diver and is responsible for the underwater part of the yacht.
Next are three security deckhands, all registered FSO officers.
Alexander Yasko indicated that same military unit of the FSO in Sochi as the place of work.
Vitaly Belenko appears in other people's contact lists as Vitaly FSO, Vitaly FSB, Vitalya Yacht and VVP.
The same Belenko indicated his place of work in his credit history as SOK FSO.
And the third guard is Sergei Koblev.
He's registered in the military unit of the FSO, works in the FSO and appears in contact lists as FSO Koblev Sergei and Seryi Bocharka.
Bocharka is the nickname of Putin's residence Bocharov Ruchei.
There is another employee, Roman Vlasov, but he doesn't work for the FSO.
He is a steward, but a more precise specialisation can be established by his work history and contact lists.
In 2018 and 2019, he worked in the Krasnodar Krai as a bartender, and in the contact lists he is listed as a "hookah man".
Alburov and Pevchikh say: "In total, just on the first two sheets of the crew list, we see 23 people, of which almost half are related to the FSO.
"I can't think of better proof that this yacht belongs to Putin.
"Even in Italy, thousands of miles from Moscow, people who are officially listed as Putin's security guards and personal staff work on it.
"The same people who take care of Putin in his residences and on his trips, who manage his life, fly together to Italy to work on one of the most expensive yachts in the world."
The yacht is said to house a cryosauna, which the President also has at every one of his other residences.
On the upper deck, there is a giant living room, dining room, two VIP cabins and a mechanical piano, which, as a crew member reportedly told the team, plays itself.
The tune is said to be from a famous 2014 song titled 'Vladimir Putin is a Fine Fellow'.
Alburov and Pevchikh go on to say: "If you closely follow our and other investigations about Putin, then surely know Putin's main rule - to steal, but not to register anything to himself.
"Therefore, Putin has surrounded himself with a dozen of the most trusted people who keep his billions."
They are said to include the famous cellist Roldugin, his daughter's godfather, who manages Putin's offshore companies.
Mikhail Shelomov, the son of Putin's cousin, holds Putin's shares in Gazprom and Sogaz and manages his palace.
The President's Gelendzhik vineyards are registered to his classmate Nikolai Yegorov.
Putin's childhood friend, Pyotr Kolbin, held Putin's stake in Gunvor, a large oil trader, the rest of which was owned by another Putin friend, Timchenko.
Rotenberg now owns the palace in Gelendzhik.
Alburov and Pevchikh say: "We are sure that in the case of Scheherazade, it will turn out that the offshore company hidden on the distant islands is also registered to another Putin friend.
"But what really matters is that the real owner of Scheherazade is guarded by the FSO.
"A state department, a security service, Russian civil servants and military officers.
"For some reason, they fly to Italy and work on a yacht.
"This hypocrisy is the quintessence of Putin."
They add: "He has lost touch with reality so much that he not only buys his third yacht worth more than the annual budget of the Kaluga Oblast but also sends military personnel from the Federal Protective Service to this crazy yacht.
"We demand the immediate arrest and confiscation of the Scheherazade yacht.
"We demand the disclosure of documents - who, when and how paid for the construction, decoration and maintenance of this ship.
"Because they paid with our money.
"Money was stolen from Russian pensioners. Money stolen from teachers and doctors.
"Money stolen from soldiers, who get deceived into dying and killing at the war in Ukraine that only Putin needs.
"Scheherazade is literally made from unbuilt Russian hospitals, collapsing schools, parents dying before the retirement age.
"Putin promised to explore deep space, develop Russian industry and build a strong innovative economy, but built himself Scheherazade instead."
