Mysterious wildfire threatens Putin's residence

Shafaq News/ Raging wildfires are threatening Vladimir Putin's £1billion Black Sea palace - throwing hundreds of firefighters into action to protect the clifftop property.

A major operation is now underway to curtail the blaze - thought to have been started deliberately - which has engulfed 118 hectares of land around the town of Gelendzhik, around 100 miles from the Crimean Peninsular.

Two Mi-8 helicopters, fire-fighting planes, and almost 100 vehicles have been deployed to combat the forest fires before they start to encroach on Putin's palace, which is just miles away from the fire

Volunteers have also been asked to join emergency services, as footage showed the blaze battering the wooded hills above the town wreathed in flames.

The Gelendzhik Palace in the Krasnodar region - fit with a nuclear bunker, casino, underground ice rink, and an 'entertainment room' complete with stripper poles - is just one of Putin's decadent hideaways and is rumoured to be worth roughly £1billion.

A 40-year-old man was earlier detained on suspicion of arson following the blaze, reports said. However his motives were not clear.

The raging fires spread fast due to strong winds that swept up to almost 70mph. During the night, the fire increased six times.

A Be-200 amphibious aircraft of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was dispatched to Gelendzhik to bolster fight fighting efforts, as Russia diverts resources from other infernos in Siberia.

A spokesperson for Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said: 'The fire spread to the top of the mountain.

'For now, there is no threat to settlements and infrastructure. Work on extinguishing the fire does not stop even for a minute.'

The fire is around ten miles northwest of Cape Idokopas, where Putin's palace is located - but the huge firefighting effort suggests officials are concerned at its potential to spread.

The gargantuan clifftop Gelendzhik Palace, a private residence allegedly built with state cash, is one of Russia's most intensively guarded facilities.

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 shielding it from prying eyes.

A marina and helicopter pads were constructed to give the president easy access to the palace, as well as a railway which is said to be Putin's favourite method of transport.

It also has a 16-storey underground complex built inside the cliff, which is also said to house a nuclear bunker.

A mining engineer who worked on the construction confirmed it had been built for the president and said 'there is a whole anthill in the rock under the house'.

The subterranean maze includes a cliff face loggia overlooking the sea and a vast wine cellar.

It was 'a balcony - literally a loggia hanging over the sea' built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy wine tasting from the palace stocks, he said.

Two weeks ago a Russian general, once close to Putin, who was keeper of the secrets about the palace's construction died mysteriously in jail.

General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, suddenly became ill - gasping for breath - and was told by doctors he had previously undiagnosed leukaemia.

Suspicions arose that he was poisoned after it emerged that the general was eligible for parole.

Lopyrev was jailed for ten years in 2017 by a military court accused of bribe-taking and illegal possession of ammunition. He maintained his innocence of the charges.