Russia’s property registry retroactively changed the Putin family’s names to ‘Sergeyev-Gradsky’ in ownership records for their old apartment

The Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography (Rosreestr) retroactively edited its data about a St. Petersburg apartment that formerly belonged to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sobesednik reported.

Putin and his relatives privatized the apartment on the city’s Vasilyevsky Island in 1995, and when the future president moved to Moscow, ownership of the property was transferred to his mother-in-law and her family.

According to Sobesednik, the apartment was until recently listed as the former property of Vladimir and Lyudmila Putin and their daughters Maria and Katerina. Now, the apartment’s owners for the same exact period of time are listed as a different set of two parents and two daughters: Igor and Lyubov Sergeyev-Gradsky and their children Inna and Alla.

Rosreestr has made similar changes to the property records of high-ranking Russian officials multiple times in the past, especially when the property involved is luxury real estate. For example, in 2016, the registry service changed the names of Russian General Prosecutor Yury Chaika’s sons from Artyom and Igor to ЛСДУ3 and ЙФЯУ9 in the two men’s land titles. Russia’s Supreme Court found that change to be legal. In June of 2019, properties belonging to two FSB officials who had recently been highlighted in a Meduza investigative report were edited by Rosreester such that their owners were listed as “The Russian Federation.”