Moscow: A lavish holiday complex on Russia’s southern Black Sea coast that has been linked to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been sold to a wealthy investor for around $350 million, a report said on March 3.
Alexander Ponomarenko, the former owner of the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, bought the complex for a sum close to $350 million (250 million euros) through a Cyprus-based company that he controls, he told Kommersant business daily.
Whistleblower businessman Sergei Kolesnikov wrote an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev in Decem-ber alleging that the Italianate villa was being built for Putin’s “private use.”
