Two kitchens and a hotel on site, worth around $150 million: Belarusian President Lukashenko is to have a residence built in Russia.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is apparently having a luxury residence built near the Russian holiday resort of Sochi – where Russian dictator Vladimir Putin also likes to spend his days off. The first details of the magnificent building have become known thanks to research by the Polish television station Belsat and former officials from Belarus. The site near Krasnaya Polyana, 40 kilometers east of the former Olympic venue, is said to be almost 100,000 square meters in size.
The residence, which will include a hotel, a chalet, a restaurant and a “square of power” where esotericists meet to pay homage to the forest, is to be built by a company close to Lukashenko. According to its own information, the Polish broadcaster is not only in possession of the purchase agreement, but also of Lukashenko’s direct instructions. It is said to have been about the fact that the piece of land that was previously owned by Belarus was transferred to the hands of a Lukashenko friend in 2022.
The official buyer is said to have ties to the Belarusian businessman Viktar Shejman, who is considered an important loyalist of Lukashenko and is on the sanctions lists of the USA and Great Britain, among others. He was once head of the presidential real estate administration in Belarus.
Lukanschenko is said to own 18 residences
Officially, Lukashenko has the Independence Palace as his residence. In fact, according to Belsat research, he is said to own or have at his disposal 18 more or less secret properties. And the 19th is said to be currently under construction.
According to the plans available to Belsat, a total of 12 buildings are to be built. The largest, which takes up a third of the building area, will be reserved for the owner. This will contain a dressing room, a banquet hall, a cold and a hot kitchen, a dining room, a living room, a cinema and a study room. In addition, the bathrooms are planned to be barrier-free. The walls are made of natural stone, all metal fittings should be made of gold.
A room just for skis
A swimming pool is to be built in the basement, a Russian and a Turkish bath, and there will also be rooms for massages and fitness. And because Sochi is a popular ski resort, there is a room designated just for skis. The living room on the upper floor will be 62 square meters in size and the bathhouse will be 20 meters long. The bedroom has 55 square meters of living space in the context of luxury hotels.
According to the report, guests will live in one of three bungalows, each 730 square meters in size, with its own pool and three bedrooms. Other visitors can sleep in the hotel, which is also said to be on the plans – but there are only four rooms. The employees have their own accommodation in the basement. Each floor also has a room for security officers and surveillance technology.
As far as costs are concerned, Belsat estimates it will cost around $150 million. The property alone is worth almost $100 million, according to research. In Russia people were surprised at journalists’ questions. Although the responsible authority confirmed that construction work had begun on the property, they were surprised that it was even known. “Where did you see that?” asked Yulia Pshenichnaya from the Russian construction department in Sochi when asked.
