President of Russia, VVladimir Putinwanted to buy an apartment in Tel Aviv for his former teacher, but the money for the purchase did not come from his pocket, but from a secret bank account under the name of the Jewish billionaire, Roman Abramovichaccording to an investigation published today (Sunday) in the “Washington Post” newspaper.
Putin’s former teacher, Mina Yuditskaya Berliner, taught him German in high school in St. Petersburg, and in 1973 decided to immigrate to Israel. During a state visit to Israel in 2005, Berliner came to the Russian embassy and asked to convey a message to Putin. After a short meeting, the Russian leader, who showered her with love, decided to buy her an apartment worth about a quarter of a million dollars. Abramovich’s spokesman acknowledged the special gift to the teacher, but said that it was not done at the behest of Putin, but “following a request received from the Jewish community.”
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Roman Abramovich (Photo: Reuters)
In an investigation done by the Washington Post, “Hashomerim” and the international investigative website ICIJ, they stated that Abramovich’s enormous wealth originally stemmed from the sale of assets after the fall of the Soviet Union. We also noted that the Jewish oligarch disputes the financial relationship with Putin, and even sued media outlets that indicated that he was working under the Russian president. However, the revealed documents reveal that the small apartment bought in the center of Tel Aviv was not purchased by Putin, but by a company controlled by Abramovich registered in Pakrisin, raising questions about the connection between the two.
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Meanwhile, one of the speakers on behalf of the oligarch, admitted that Abramovich had a part in buying the apartment, but emphasized that “the purchase of the apartment was not made on Putin’s orders, but following a request received from the Jewish community.” According to him, “It is a blatant lie to say that someone has control over Mr. Abramovich’s finances, based on the fact that the apartment cost about a quarter of a million dollars, when Abramovich donated over half a billion dollars to Jewish causes.”
The records revealed in the investigation showed that Abramovich is working to get rid of the sanctions that the Western countries imposed on Russia and Russian personalities following the war in Ukraine. In doing so, Abramovich pretends that he has no special ties to Putin, even as he uses the Kremlin to serve as a conduit for the faltering negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. However, Abramovich is protected from the American sanctions, at the behest of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskywho sees it as a channel for negotiation talks with Putin.
Vladimir Putin (Photo: Reuters)
According to the revealed documents, during his state visit to Israel, Berliner was invited to a hotel in Jerusalem, where she finally met with the Russian president. After that, he invited her to join him in his private room at the hotel, where the two talked about day-to-day matters. Before she left, Putin asked her to write her address in Tel Aviv, after which she received many gifts, such as an antique Russian watch, and a book with a personal dedication. And then, according to the details, Putin announced that he was interested in purchasing an apartment for her and accompanied her to see two properties that had already been selected. According to her, “Everything happened quickly, within a few months, movers arrived, packed my apartment and moved me.”
Abramovich’s name does not appear on the note, or on the list of corporations in Cyprus, which has become a tax haven for Russian oligarchs. However, in documents leaked from a Cypriot company called Meritservus, which deals, among other things, with the registration of companies and yacht registrations, and came into the hands of an American non-profit organization called Distributed Denial of Secrets, the Cypriot company provided the Jewish oligarch with various services for two decades.
The revealed documents also show that on June 29, 2005, two months after Putin’s visit to Jerusalem, his elderly teacher signed an agreement in which she received $245,000 from a company called NP Gemini Holdings Ltd registered in Cyprus. A representative on behalf of Abramovich replied that the gift to the Berliner was made by the rabbi Alexander Borodathe leader of the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia.