The remote mountain bolthole was partly levelled by the blaze (Picture: East2West News)
A Siberian palace said to be Putin’s unofficial residence has been partly destroyed by a devastating fire.
The blaze levelled an entire building at the lavish compound in Russia’s Altai Republic, a sparsely inhabited mountainous region home to a large minority of indigenous nomadic animal herders.
The main structure appeared to escape the worst of the flames, although officials have not confirmed whether it also suffered damage.
The Russian president is known to have hosted lavish gatherings at the palace, including one in honour of late former Italian premier and notorious philanderer Silvio Berlusconi.
The compound is rumoured to sit on top of a vast nuclear bunker (Picture: E2W)
But the damage to the overground buildings will be of least interest to Putin’s enemies.
The palace is believed to sit on top of a large secret underground complex, which could function as a nuclear bunker.
Professor Valery Solovei, a former employee of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, has previously described the bunker as a hi-tech ‘underground city’.
Putin has hosted lavish gatherings for foreign leaders at the palace (Picture: E2W)
Reports indicate there are a large number of heavy-duty ventilators dotted around the grounds, and that the complex is linked to a stand-alone electrical substation which is lage enough to power a whole town.
A firm of German engineers known for expertise on digging large tunnels were allegedly spotted on-site during the palace’s construction a decade ago.
When Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine two years ago, reports suggested he sent his two daughters, Maria and Katia, and a boy reported to be his grandson, to the bunker.
The residence is also home to a large farm breeding a species of deer for alternative medicine popular in parts of Russia.
The aging premier reportedly sent his kids and granchild to the bunker when he invaded Ukraine (Picture: Getty)
The antlers of the Caspian red deer are traditionally prized for their use in making health remedies, which have no scientific evidence supporting their efficacy.
Reports suggest Putin once arranged to have a bath in the blood extracted from 70kg worth of stag antlers from this species to boost his male vitality.
Animal rights campaigners say the Russian antler industry involves shocking abuse of the animals, including sawing off their antlers while they are still alive and with no anaesthetic.
The palace is roughly six-and-a-half hours from Moscow by plane or 54 hours by road.
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