Not far from Crimea, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin enjoys life in a 190,000-square-foot, billion-dollar compound on the shores of the Black Sea in the resort town of Gelendzhik, Russia.
Inside the palace, there’s a hockey rink, wine cellar, hookah lounge, casino arboretum, his very own stripper pole and, of course, a church.
But 50 meters below the bluff the estate is perched on — which also sets it in a special no-fly zone — there lies a fortified, dual-tunnel bunker that could protect the president and fellow VIPs should turmoil ensue, Insider reported about leaked documents showing its layout.
Putin and important guests could survive down there for weeks at a time, as access to fresh water, proper ventilation and a complex cable system all flow beneath incredibly dense, 15-inch concrete.
“This tunnel set-up has all kinds of safety and security,” structural engineer Thaddeus Gabryszewski told Insider.
“There’s a fire system. There’s water, there’s sewer. This is intended for someone to survive or escape.”
The need for a doomsday hideout speaks to the alleged paranoia of Russia’s leader, and perhaps an uncertainty regarding his power.
“Putin has a lot of anxiety about being the not entirely legitimate leader of Russia,” said Michael C. Kimmage, a former State Department official who focused on Russia and the Ukraine.
“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,” the history professor continued. “We have to see this as part of a long confrontation with the West that has marked the last 13 or 14 years of Putin’s life.”
Its two tunnels — atop one another and connected by elevators — run about 40 and 60 meters long and are about 6 meters wide, Insider reported. There exists a good 6,500 square feet of highly fortified living space.
Whether or not the facility can withstand a nuclear blast would depend on how the concrete is reinforced and what materials were used in the surrounding filled areas, according to the engineer. It is not clear from the design plans.
The lower tunnel contains 16 cable racks — each nearly a foot wide — that are designed for electricity and fiber optics.
“It’s an awful lot of cable just for the tunnel itself. So it could be some kind of back-up system for the palace complex,” Gabryszewski said.
Meanwhile, Kimmage insists that its location — a good thousand miles from Moscow — serves to ensure Putin’s survival against rebellion from his own people.
“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,” he 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 complex ventilation system was also designed with outside chemical attacks in mind, according to Gabryszewski. “If there’s some kind of attack, Putin has got two sources of air intake, one high and one low.”
The engineer also spotted a potential supply loading zone in the bunker that exists near a road.
Ultimately, the designs for such a fortress show that Putin has anticipated the brink of global conflict for years, according to Kimmage.
“This is also deadly real. Putin perceives himself as being engaged in a confrontation with the West. The nuclear dimension is an important part of that. He knows he is standing on top of a volcano,” he said.
“He doesn’t seem to be so psychopathic as to initiate a nuclear conflict — he has grandchildren — but he’s been standing on that edge for a very long time. These tunnels, this bunker, is a part of that.”
