After “7x7” had published the article stating the fact that a Karelian trail was found out in the investigation of close Putin's friend Sergey Roldugin's offshore companies, our readers started to send us the photos of a country tourist complex Winter's Dacha and its neighbourhood.
People guess there is one more residency nearby Winter's Dacha, and there is no information about it on the country house hotel website. The photos and their description were sent by our reader. We publish his shots and quotes on conditions of anonymity.
“A huge pier, yachts. The house is made cool, it is almost invisible angle wise. You can see it only when you float and stand right in front of it. Massive glass windows overlook Ladoga. There is a small bay where a beautiful bridge was built. Everything is well-groomed. The territory is fenced. When we approached it, the speaker phone sounded like get the **** out of here because it's a highly sensitive facility. It is right next to Winter's Dacha. The roads there are perfect. The locals say it's a country house of that one and only. But most probably it's one of Yury Kovalchuk [Russian entrepreneur, the chairman of Rossiya bank board]”.
The followers of Facebook group “Karelia is the best” have raged as well. Now they are sharing not only their thoughts about who owns these beautiful houses on Ladoga Lake shore, but also the photos of luxury yachts moored near the alleged residency.
The pier and maybe even a helipad can also be seen on satellite images. The apartness of this territory from Winter's Dacha is proved not only by the hence presence, but also by Rosreestr [Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography] website data.
The part marked with a red rectangle is a place where the beautiful house with massive windows is located. The same territory, marked with yellow colour, is also a separate land plot according to the cadastral map. It is intended for allocation of “other recreational facilities”. In addition, it is categorized as “the land of specially protected sites and areas”. The more detailed extract on the proprietor data indicates that the land is owned by a media baron Yury Kovalchuk.
So, one way or another the territories of both recreational centre and its adjacent zone belong to the chairman of Rossiya bank board. Yet, unlike the space of Winter's Dacha tourist complex which is open for the guests, the entry to the Kovalchuk private property is prohibited. But anyone could spend a holiday there, including as likely as not the president of the country who is considered a friend of Kovalchuk.
According to the data of Panama Papers investigation authors, Sandalwood Continental company associated with a president's friend Sergey Roldugin granted about 50 million rubles “on favorable terms” to Russian firm called Nord House, that owned some land plots and a hotel resort in the city of Sortavala in the Republic of Karelia. Nowadays the owner of the real estate, according to Rosreestr, is LLC Winter's Dacha. In this picturesque place, on Ladoga shore, surrounded by pine forests, there is a premium-class hotel of the same name, Winter's Dacha. All of these Russian companies anyway are associated with Rossiya bank and its co-owner Yury Kovalchuk.
Gleb Yarovoy, «7x7»
