Two villas linked to Putin in Biarritz, southwestern France. One of them is in the possession of the dictator’s ex-wife Ludmila Ocheretnaya, the official owner is her current husband Artur Ocheretny. In December 2013, half a year after the official announcement of the divorce of the Putin couple, a 5.3 million euro villa in Anglet, in the south-west of France, was registered in Ocheretny’s name. It is located not far from Putin’s daughter’s villa.
The buyer asks for the most expensive one
“Putin has properties worth about ten million euros in Biarritz, but these millions to him are maybe like ten euros to you,” Thomson said in “What’s New in Avizei”. Although Biarritz also has an airfield for private planes, it is likely that Putin has been to this quiet resort town on the Atlantic coast before becoming president, but now it is unthinkable that he could come here incognito.
“It was in 2010 or 2011, when I had recently started working at one of the Biarritz real estate firms, “BARNES Côte Basque”. One day, a handsome, tall, blue-eyed, blond man of about 45 years old, who speaks English very poorly, walks into the agency. And asks what the most expensive properties are available in Anglet – one of the quietest and most elite districts of Biarritz,” recalls Thomson.
Run-down villa with shabby carpets
Her colleague, one of the three directors of the agency, said: “We can offer you a villa with an ocean view and a golf course behind. It is a beautiful Art Deco building that belonged to a divorcee whose husband was a doctor in a nearby town. The property was purchased in the seventies of the last century, when it cost nothing in Biarritz. The three-story house, beautiful Art Deco staircase, cost five million. When we got the mandate to sell the property, it was run down, with old carpets and hideous brown tiles,” says Thomson.
The blond stranger looked at the villa and bought it, it was the deal of the century for the province. “An interesting nuance is that he immediately bought it through “Sberbank” and without credit. There was silence for a while. Then the blond beauty reappeared. I participated in the renovation process, with the architects, we announced the tender. Then he had to choose how he wanted to furnish the villa. The winner was an architect well-known to the locals, who tore his hair out when he heard what reconstructions were going to be carried out, but neither he nor the local municipality budged, the Basque Country does not do as anyone wants, and Basque culture cannot be bought. Walks, shows: “We will live here with my wife and one child, all “Versace” and a giant crystal chandelier down to the ground,”” I was specifically at the signing of the contract and approval of the plans. At the time, we didn’t know that it was the new husband of Putin’s ex-wife Artūrs Ocheretny,” continues Agnes.
Pay millions without loans
When asked where he got the money to pay five million for the villa and another three for the renovation without loans, the buyer replied that he is a large and successful real estate developer in Moscow.
Agnese once made friends with the family of a former client. He was also a fairly successful businessman from Russia, he knew this environment well and the people who worked in it, but he knew nothing about such a colleague in Moscow. After thinking for several days, he realized that the rich client was the new husband of Putin’s ex-wife.
The elite complex “Lomas del Rey” in Marbella in the south of Spain. The husband of Putin’s ex-wife bought two apartments here for 2.2 million euros, the origin of the money is not clear. (Photo: Realista)
“I presented this news to the agency like a hot pie, because even the notaries had no idea, let alone the owner, they had no idea who the new owner is,” adds Agnese.
The renovation of the house was extensive, among other things, the pines growing in the dunes were uprooted despite local protests. The beautiful fresco and columns were preserved. While the villa was being renovated, Ludmila, the former wife of the dictator, was seen in Biarritz attending the performances of the famous modern ballet “Malandail Ballet Biaritz”. In 2020, she left Biarritz and has not been seen.
The renovation of the villa has been partially completed, but the further Russian invasion of Ukraine has frozen it. The owners cannot drive there – they are stoned.
Made an assessment
Putin’s daughter Yekaterina Tikhonova also had property in Biarritz. No one really guessed who owns this villa – the residents behaved quietly. However, there is a high-rise building next door, from which the garden and pool are well visible. Through the windows of a neighboring house, a paparazzi took a picture of Tikhonova splashing in the pool, and the photo got into the press. The owner left and has not been seen again, but the villa cannot be sold.
Villa “Altamira” in Biarritz in southwestern France is owned by Kirill Shamalov, the ex-husband of Putin’s youngest daughter Tikhonova. (Photo: AFP/Scanpix)
Thomson made an assessment of this property: “I was in that house. Perfect luxury design, with very good taste. I have experience with properties. It was a three-story house, each floor 100 square meters, with two huge balconies facing the ocean and a characteristic tall turret. There is a well-equipped basement where there is a laundry room, a freezer for products. Everything is top class. Beautiful bathrooms, showers, parquet, designer furniture, pool, rooms for staff. There is little land – 700 to 800 square meters.”
The house is about to fall into the ocean
Everything would be fine, if not for one misfortune. Putin’s daughter bought the villa before the local Green Party started loudly warning that many houses on the first line of the coast would fall into the ocean. Before Putin’s daughter, the property belonged to the French manufacturer of Panzani pasta. Presumably, when he sold the villa, he knew well that it could be washed into the sea and got free in time, the garden with the veranda already collapsed in the neighboring property. He had bought the villa about 50 years ago, still paying in francs, now, selling it for millions, he recouped his investment tenfold.
Although BARNES Côte Basque, where Agnes worked, did an appraisal of the property, they did not obtain a mandate to sell. Currently, no one is buying the villa. It does not stand on a solid rock, but one that is washed away by the waves. It would have been necessary to strengthen the bank with concrete blocks, but the owners had no way to get a permit for this work, as Biarritz has strict rules in this regard. Now the value of the villa depends on whether the city hall will allocate funds to strengthen the shore. Of course, concrete blocks are not as decorative as natural rocks.
Ludmila Ocheretnaya’s estate in Anglet, France, on the Atlantic coast. On the fence and gate, the attitude towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine is expressed. (Photo: REUTERS/SCANPIX)
“The assessment of this villa is very difficult. If there was no risk of the villa falling into the ocean, its value could be around five million euros. If it does happen to fall into the water, what value can it possibly have? You can take the risk of buying for one and a half million and hope that the mayor’s office will strengthen the coast,” says Agnese.
War draws attention
Currently, Ukrainian flags are painted on the fences of both properties, one house was broken into by Russian human rights activist Vladimira Ostrechkina, prosthesis, Sergej Savelyev
Last March, local activist Pierre Afner together with Sergey Savekiev entered the Tikhonov villa and announced that the property was ready to receive victims of the Putin regime, primarily war refugees from Ukraine.
Documents related to Putin’s close businessman Gennady Timchenko and Tikhonova’s ex-husband Kirill Shamalov were found in the villa, also in 2009 Timchenko signed a power of attorney for a French citizen who was responsible for repairing the villa. The French real estate register shows that Timchenko was the owner of the villa from 2007, Shamalov from 2012.
While the Kremlin is sending its own citizens to be murdered in Ukraine and to die a senseless death themselves, while 30% of Russia’s population is a dry toilet, the Putin family has uselessly expensive, empty properties.
Trying to sell properties in Spain
“Deutsche Welle” reports that the Ocheretni couple is trying to sell their two apartments in Marbella in southern Spain, fearing sanctions. The apartments are located in the elite complex “Lomas del Rey”.
The generally well-informed newspaper “Español” and the portal “Confidencial” write that Ocheretny bought these properties with an area of 229 and 405 square meters for 2.2 million euros in 2011 and 2014, shortly before his marriage to Ludmila. The apartments are designed in his name and are located in the Golden Mile of Marbella, one of the most expensive Mediterranean resorts. Ocheretny allegedly received a mortgage loan from a Spanish bank for this purchase.
Ocheretny himself does not have the means for such purchases, and the real donor of these and also properties in France and Switzerland is most likely Ludmila. Great Britain has imposed sanctions against Ocheretniy, while the European Union is still hesitating.