“We lost several million people”: An expert criticizes the protracted intrigue with the palace near Gelendzhik
Businessman Arkady Rotenberg, whose companies Stroygazmontazh and Mostotrest built the Crimean Bridge, said that he is the beneficiary of the facility near Gelendzhik, which became known as “Putin’s palace” after a fake investigation by blogger Alexei Navalny.
Rotenberg announced his involvement in the palace to the Mash Internet project, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Now it’s no longer a secret. I am a beneficiary. Quite a complex object. There were many creditors. This is a godsend. The place is gorgeous,” Rotenberg said.
According to him, he purchased the “palace” several years ago and is going to turn it into an apart-hotel. Rotenberg claims to be working on similar projects in Crimea, the Far East and Altai.
All this, according to the businessman, is necessary so that residents of the Russian Federation have a choice - “to fly to a good hotel in Turkey, Spain, the Maldives, or spend a vacation in quality hotel complexes on the Black Sea coast, in Belokurikha or Kamchatka.”
He is not satisfied with the pace of construction and hopes to complete it in two years. “Given all the scandals, I will try to speed up,” Rotenberg said.
Previously, Mash showed that the inside of the “palace” is an empty concrete box, and all the luxurious interiors shown by Navalny in his film turned out to be fake.
Political scientist Sergei Markov believes that the silence around the owner of the palace was an unforgivable mistake by the managers responsible for the government’s information policy.
“Finally, the authorities have answered the question that all of Russia has been asking them for 2 weeks. And they dropped the stupid excuse that it was not correct to give the owner’s last name. It’s good that they listened to us, Putin’s true supporters, and finally named the owner. It’s bad that they listened to us only after 2 weeks. Because while they were making up their minds and saying stupid things, they lost several million people. The inadequacy of the information policy simply screams and arouses people’s distrust with its extremely cunning resourcefulness. But we need to tell the people simply and harshly as it is. I have been talking about this for a week now. It's good that they listened to us.
Rotenberg said that he is building this palace as an apartment hotel. This is where the rooms with kitchens are. Probably now they will also make kitchens. Although, I think, before they still wanted to give it to Putin. But after Putin’s refusal, they probably wanted to use it as a common palace for friends. Or they were looking for a buyer. Or they wanted the presidential administration to buy him from them. But now I’ll definitely have to pay for the hotel. There will be many people who want to go there after such advertising. Even for a lot of money there will be a queue.
But now we still need to simply and logically explain why there is a no-fly zone. And why are so many relatives of intelligence officers attached to the property? So that everyone, except obvious enemies, can finally be sure that this is definitely not Putin’s palace. How confident I am of this,” Markov wrote.
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