A pro-Ukrainian ‘saboteur’ has been caught with a bomb near Vladimir Putin’s palatial hideout on a £1 billion cliff in southern Russia, Moscow forces have claimed.
The unnamed 42-year-old was labeled a “supporter of Ukrainian neo-Nazism” when he was detained by FSB agents on suspicion of “terrorist offences”.
The suspect was charged with plotting the explosion near Gelendzhik, the Black Sea tyrant’s resort town, which sits gracefully atop the cliffs of the southern Krasnodar region.
The palace is reportedly worth around £1 billion and has its own massive underground bunker. The sprawling mansion is the size of Buckingham Palace and is just one of the opulent private residences of the despot in Russia.
Footage showed Russian troops, dressed in heavy military uniform, leading the suspect away, with one man grabbing each of the suspect’s arms.
The FSB security service said: “A ready-to-use improvised explosive device was seized from a cache equipped by a radical in a wooded area on the outskirts of the settlement.
‘Parts for making IEDs [improvised explosive devices] were seized at his home address.’
Instructions for assembling explosives and their use were also found, said the FSB counterintelligence service once headed by Putin.
These were “received from Internet communities controlled by militants of Ukrainian nationalist formations.”
The man – seen on video detained by the FSB – faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of terrorist offenses.
His supposed bomb-making factory was shown, as was a stash supposedly hiding explosives in a local forest.
Putin’s sprawling clifftop residence is located in the elite resort, though Russian state media is barred from revealing details about the 70-year-old dictator’s palace.
Recent revelations indicated that Putin has built an extensive bunker complex in Gelendzhik – where he could rule Russia in the event of a nuclear war.
Diagrams depict a cavernous system of underground shelters with ventilation systems, sewerage and freshwater supply.
The underground complex covers 6,500 square feet, with an elevator shaft connecting the complex with two tunnels.
The main palace — larger than anything owned by the British royal family — includes a pole-dancing boudoir and vineyard, according to previous revelations.
The building is surrounded by some 17,000 acres of land owned by Russia’s FSB security service, with no-fly and no-boat zones protecting it from prying eyes.
A marina and helipads were built to give the president easy access to the palace, as well as a railway line that is said to be Putin’s preferred means of transportation.
Russian authorities have accused the unnamed man of planning an attack on a law enforcement facility.
