A new picture of a pole-dancing boudoir inside Vladimir Putin ’s alleged £1 billion Black Sea palace has been released by jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team.
The gargantuan pile at Gelendzhik was shown earlier in computer images based on leaked detailed plans of the property.
But now Navalny's team claim to have found thousands of actual photographs of the palace confirming a “striptease” room known as a “hookah” with a stage and a performer’s pole.
"The striptease hall, hookah, call it what you want, really exists,” says a commentary with a video on the new pictures.
“And it looks much worse than we could imagine.”
A computer-generated image shows how the Navalny team had imagined the pole-dancing boudoir a year ago based on leaked plans which also included a casino and "aqua disco".
A photograph shows what they claim is the striptease room reality in the palace when it was still under construction.
“The stage is littered with pillows,” said the commentary.
A pulsating light appears above and behind where the dancer would perform.
“We don't even know how to describe it. A portal? A silhouette of a temple dome?”
Other images show the Russian leader's bedroom, a second bedroom and his office, as well as a swimming pool, they claim.
The double-headed eagle symbol of Russia is found throughout the palace, appearing to give it an official seal.
Amid controversy over the palace stoked by Putin enemy Navalny, a year ago oligarch Arkady Rotenberg denied it belonged to the President and said he owned the sprawling clifftop property overlooking the Black Sea.
Billionaire Rotenberg is Putin’s former judo sparring partner and perhaps closest friend from childhood.
At the time the tycoon explained: “This is a stunning place. We would like to build an apart-hotel there, this is why it has so many rooms.”
He told the media without going into detail that he had managed to “become a beneficiary” of the well-guarded property.
The high-security palace reportedly includes a “16-storey underground complex” compared with the lair of a James Bond villain.
It was also described as “a whole anthill in the rock under the house”.
An engineer-turned-whistleblower who reportedly worked on the construction - named only as Viktor - thought of the palace as a “national treasure” suggesting the underground passageways buried in the rock were more ingenious than Dr No’s bunker.
The palace designs included on the eighth subterranean floor "a balcony - literally a loggia hanging over the sea" built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy wine tasting from the palace stocks, he said.
It is, however, far from clear that Putin has ever lived here and a year ago it appeared to be undergoing reconstruction.
The Kremlin has denied that it is the President’s private home.
Lawyer, anti-corruption campaigner and protest leader Navalny - seen as Putin’s number one enemy - is in jail but is seen in the West as a political prisoner.
