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Putin believes rumors of his 'palace' were used in scheme to brainwash Russians

Putin says the palace he allegedly owns doesn’t belong to him or his relatives

© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

ZAVIDOVO /Tver Region/, January 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the purported palace that he allegedly owns in Gelendzhik according to a certain "investigation" doesn’t belong to him or his close relatives.

"I haven’t seen this film simply due to lack of free time to look into such information, but I looked through selected video clips that my aides brought me," he said at an online meeting with university students. "Nothing of what is listed there as my property belongs or has ever belonged to me or my close relatives. Never!"

Putin thinks that the rumors of the palace he allegedly owns were used to try to brainwash Russians.

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"This information has been stirred up for more than 10 years. And now, it has all been cobbled together for a very convenient occasion to brainwash our citizens with these materials by launching some films and video programs on the Internet," he said Monday during an online meeting with university students.

Putin also pointed out to the students that any property of this kind has certain documentation and data about financial transaction, "even certain legal procedures involving notaries, there must also be evidence left there in notary books and in electronic form."

And what is there instead of any of that? They posted a picture of me swimming the butterfly stroke – even though it’s a bit askew, but I like swimming this way - in some sort of swimming pool that I’ve never been to. I have no idea where this swimming pool is, but I swam like that in the Yenisei River in 2016. Here, this is nothing but utter copy-pasting and manipulation through editing," the president specified.

Putin pointed out that he knows some of the people mentioned in the film, some of them are old buddies or former colleagues, a distant relative or just a person he knows. "Meanwhile, there are people that I don’t know at all, [and I] have never seen them before, nor am I acquainted with them," he affirmed. "I get it that they don’t want to stand too close to me because anyone who appears next to me immediately faces sanctions," he added. Speaking about his acquaintances mentioned in this "investigation", Putin emphasized that they had entered the business world long before he became president.

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