Pro-Ukrainian ‘saboteur’ caught near Putin’s £1billion palace with a bomb, Russian security claims

A Pro-Ukraine ‘saboteur’ has been caught with a bomb close to Vladimir Putin’s £1 billion palatial cliff top hideaway in southern Russia, Moscow’s forces have claimed.

The unnamed 42-year-old was branded a ‘supporter of Ukrainian neo-Nazism’ as he was detained by FSB agents on suspicion of ‘terrorist offences’.

The suspect was accused of plotting the explosion near the tyrant’s Black Sea resort Gelendzhik, which is perched delicately atop the cliffs of the southern Krasnodar region.

The palace is rumoured to be worth roughly £1 billion and has its own vast underground bunker. The sprawling pleasure mansion dwarfs Buckingham Palace in size and is just one of the despot’s opulent private residences in Russia.

Footage showed Russian forces clad in heavy-duty military fatigues leading the suspect away, one man grappling each of the suspect’s arms.

The suspect was accused of plotting the explosion near the tyrant’s Black Sea resort Gelendzhik, in the southern Krasnodar region

Footage showed Russian forces clad in heavy-duty military fatigues leading the suspect away

The FSB security service said: ‘A ready-to-use improvised explosive device was seized from a cache equipped by a radical in a wooded area on the outskirts of the settlement.

‘Components for making IEDs [improvised explosive devices] were seized at his residential address.’

Instructions for assembling explosive devices and their use were also found, said the FSB counterintelligence agency once headed by Putin.

These were ‘received from Internet communities administered by militants of Ukrainian nationalist formations’.

The man – seen on video detained by the FSB – faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted of terrorist offences.

His alleged bomb-making factory was shown as was a stash supposedly to conceal explosive devices in a local forest.

Putin’s sprawling cliff top residence is at the elite resort, although the Russian state media is barred from revealing details of the 70-year-old dictator’s palace.

Recent revelations indicated Putin has constructed an elaborate bunker complex at Gelendzhik – where he might rule Russia in the event of nuclear war.

Diagrams indicate a cavernous system of underground hideouts with ventilation systems, sewerage, and freshwater supply.

The suspect’s arms are placed behind his back as he was caught by Russian forces with a bomb close Vladimir Putin’s £1 billion palatial cliff top hideaway

The man – seen on video detained by the FSB – faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted of terrorist offences

The unnamed 42-year-old was branded a ‘supporter of Ukrainian neo-Nazism’ by the FSB

The FSB security service said: ‘A ready-to-use improvised explosive device was seized from a cache equipped by a radical in a wooded area on the outskirts of the settlement’

The FSB said: ‘Components for making IEDs [improvised explosive devices] were seized at his residential address.’

The underground complex spans 6,500 square feet, with a lift shaft connecting the complex to two tunnels.

The main palace – larger than anything owned by the British royals – includes a pole-dancing boudoir and vineyard, according to earlier disclosures. 

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. 

The Russian authorities have accused the unnamed man of intending an attack on a law enforcement facility.

The palace is ringed by such law enforcement checkpoints, preventing access to Putin’s bolthole which he is believed to share with lover Alina Kabaeva, 40, an Olympic Gold-medal winning rhythmic gymnast, and their young family.