Russian businessmen close to Putin have lost billions of rubles on the winery near his alleged palace

The winery located near President Vladimir Putin’s alleged “palace” on the Black Sea has cost its owners billions of rubles in losses over the past three years, reports MBX Media.

The company that owns the winery’s assets, Lazurnaya Yagoda, saw 165 million rubles ($2.14 million) in losses in 2019 and 680 million rubles (about $8.82 million) in losses in 2020. Since 2018, Lazurnaya Yagoda has been controlled by Putin-linked billionaire Gennady Timchenko and businessman Vladimir Kolbin (the son of Putin’s childhood friend Petr Kolbin).

Kolbin’s company Divnomorye, which rents facilities from Lazurnaya Yagoda and is directly involved in the wine production, has incurred an additional 140 million rubles (about $1.82 million) in losses since 2017.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denies having any connection to the luxury mansion outside of the Black Sea town of Gelendzhik that’s known as “Putin’s palace.” After opposition politician Alexey Navalny released an investigation into the property in early 2021, Russian businessman Arkady Rotenberg, a longtime friend of Putin, came forward claiming to be its owner.