BY Olesya Shmagun - OCCRP  

Seven kilometers west of Moscow along the Rublyevo-Uspenskoye Highway, a three-meter-high green metal fence cuts through the cool pine forest. Behind the fence lies Mayendorf Gardens, a subdivision in the exclusive and secretive Rublevka community that is home to Forbes millionaires, State Duma deputies, and high-ranking public officials.

One of the homeowners is Leyla Aliyev, the elder daughter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who is listed in various records as either 30 or 31 years old. Experts told the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) her property is probably worth tens of millions of given that the median value of current houses for sale in the settlement is US$ 37 million.

OCCRP has been tracking the first family’s wealth and the Dacha is just one of the many luxury mansions the Aliyevs own around the world despite Ilham Aliyev having only served as a public servant during most of his life.

Impolite people

Rublyevo-Uspenskoye Highway is the impeccably maintained road that President Vladimir Putin takes every day as he is whisked from his residence to his Kremlin office.

When Putin is on the road, other drivers must cool their heels, while his car zips past surrounded by black security cars with flashers.

Those who aren’t the president can expect to endure heavy traffic, generally featuring a black Mercedes or white Lexus roaring up from behind and honking to get by. When they do overtake, the impatient drivers may bestow some choice words on slower vehicles.

On a trip to Mayendorf Gardens, a reporter for OCCRP was called a number of things by the wealthy residents, the most printable being “silly fool!” and “filth!”

You’re not welcome here

Mayendorf Gardens was built on the grounds of the former Soviet health resort Barvikha that was in the state’s hands until 2001. According to real estate agents, the landscape of the gated community features lakes and hills that evoke Alpine views.

It is just a few minutes’ walk from the Chateau Mayendorf – a restored family estate which Putin likes to use for formal occasions. It’s handy for him -- his official residence, Novo-Ogaryovo, is just a few minutes’ drive from Mayendorf Chateau, a turn-of-the-century castle from which the area gets its name.

According to documents obtained by OCCRP, Leyla Aliyeva obtained a property in the posh gated community in May 2006 – right after she married Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop singer and entrepreneur of Azerbaijani origin who is also the son of a major Moscow developer. The couple announced they are divorcing in May of this year.

While the Barvikha area was popular among the Soviet elite as far back as the Stalin years, the early years of this century saw an explosion of a new kind of exclusive enclave along Rublyevo-Uspenskoye Highway, an area referred to as Rublevka.

The are plenty of them: Zhukovka, Barvikha, Gorky… One of the Barvikha houses, in fact, this year made a list of the 15 most expensive rental properties in the world. Rublevka became for Russian citizens a symbol of wealth and elitism, but elitism of a special kind. People believe such extremely expensive properties are out of reach for people earning an honest living. And the building of three-meter fences seems to support that perception.

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