Russian President Vladimir Putin's desire to remain safe has extended to his vacation palace on a bluff overlooking the Black Sea.
The 190,000-square-foot, billion-dollar complex includes two elaborate tunnels running beneath the complex — clearly signs of an underground bunker, Business Insider reported.
Amazingly, the palace's builders not only failed to hide plans showing the tunnels, diagrams were posted publicly to the Russian internet.
"Putin has a lot of anxiety about being the not-entirely-legitimate leader of Russia," Michael C. Kimmage, a former State Department official who worked on Russia and Ukraine policy, told the Insider.
"So knowing that his legitimacy is not entirely secured by elections, he is going to seek to maximize his personal safety through a complex of well-defended personal residences."
Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the United States of being behind what it says was a drone attack on the Kremlin intended to kill Putin.
To help ensure safety at his Black Sea retreat, Putin's dacha is sealed off by 17,000 acres of woodland and a special no-fly zone, Insider reported.
The palace's underground complex consists of two separate tunnels connected by an elevator that descends roughly 50 meters below the surface, the Insider reported.
"The architectural plans show the tunnels encased in thick concrete are supplied with enough fresh water, ventilation and extensive cables to support VIP occupants for days or weeks at a time," Insider said. "An expert who reviewed the tunnel plans saw signs of Putin's obsession with survival at a time other strongmen were falling."
Exits from those tunnels can be seen just below the palace complex, on the cliff rising up from the beach.
"This tunnel set-up has all kinds of safety and security," said Thaddeus Gabryszewski, a structural engineer familiar with defensive structures who reviewed the diagrams for Insider. "There's a fire system. There's water, there's sewer. This is intended for someone to survive or escape."
Kimmage said that survivalism likely was a driver behind the palace's remote location, nearly 1,000 miles from Moscow.
"The two times there has been a big transition in Russian history — 1917 and 1991 — the status of the capital city and the leader's position there has been a big issue," Kimmage said. "Putin is solving for that contingency by establishing a network of residences that are as far from the center as possible. So a tunnel system within the Black Sea complex makes a lot of sense. Even without an active threat, he's going to be worrying about this eventuality."
The Insider reported that the palace was funded privately and remains privately owned.
"It appears intended not to insure the continuity of a political system so much as the survival of one individual," the outlet said.
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