Inside Putin's $3.2 Million Fishing Villa In Finland Left Abandoned After He Didn't Want To Fish

Russian President Vladimir Putin abandoned a $3.2 million three-story fishing villa in Finland after he refused to fish, according to a report.

The villa boasts an office, a dining room, a wine cellar, a billiard room, an underground garage, a small swimming pool, a sauna and at least eight toilets, Russian investigative news website The Insider reported, citing a master plan of the house, per translations via Google Translate.

It is unclear when construction of the fishing villa began, but the outlet noted that it was before July 2017. At the time, Putin had just arrived in the nearby city of Savonlinna to meet Finnish Sauli Niinistö.

The villa, located on the coast of Lake Saimaa in southeast Finland, was funded by Viktor Khmarin, one of Putin's close friends whom he met at Leningrad State University. Khmarin now lobbies for Putin and is serving as the general director of RusHydro, the largest hydroelectricity company in the country. He is also married to Lyubov, the daughter of Putin's aunt Lyudmila Spiridonovna Putina, per Forbes.

The three-story villa was built at the cost of around $3.2 million, including $129,000 for site preparation, $540,000 for the villa, $216,000 for a security house and $432,000 for the purchase of building materials. The cost did not include the expenses for the fishing house, wooden bridges and a glacier, The Insider reported.

The outlet noted that the Khmarin had the villa built so Putin would spend more time with him. However, the fishing villa was never completed due to several issues, including the replacement of building crews who left due to their working conditions.

Additionally, construction was stopped after Putin said he was no longer interested in fishing in Finland. A tour of the house, a video of which was posted by The Insider on YouTube, showed expensive building materials lying everywhere, with boxes of ceramic tiles and plumbing fixtures still unopened. There were also scaffolding, a ladder, cables, and an uninstalled bathtub inside the fishing villa. Khmarin later wrote off the house as a loss after struggling to find a buyer.