MOSCOW: Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny was jailed nearly two weeks ago when he returned to Russia from Germany after recovering from exposure to a nerve toxin.
The day after he was put behind bars, his team released an investigative report accompanied by a two-hour YouTube video accusing Russian leader Vladimir Putin of being gifted a luxurious property on the Black Sea coast.
Putin has strongly denied that he is its owner.
Here's what you need to know:
The 44-year-old anti-graft campaigner's report is not the first to suggest that Putin is the main resident of a coastal palace near the town of Gelendzhik in southern Russia.
In 2010, businessman Sergei Kolesnikov blew the whistle on the luxury complex.
He said he was asked by close associates of Putin to transfer via his company donations made by oligarchs into a fund that was intended for renovating hospitals but was instead used to finance the construction of the property.
The businessman fled Russia before publishing a heap of documents on the palace accompanied by an open letter to then-president Dmitry Medvedev, urging him to investigate the case.
The authorities rejected Kolesnikov's claims and his initiative failed to gain traction.
Navalny's investigation describes the lavish property in detail using drone footage and 3D visualisations of the interior based on leaked architectural blueprints.
The report alleges that the 17,700 square metre complex includes a church, vineyards, an underground hockey arena and a private casino.
It says that boats are prohibited from approaching the property along the coast and there is a no-fly zone above it.
Navalny, who accuses Putin of being "obsessed with wealth and luxury", estimates that the construction of the property cost more than $1.5 billion.
Underscoring the grand price tag, the Kremlin critic noted in particular that it features Italian-made toilet brushes estimated at 700 euros ($851) apiece.
The construction of the complex, according to Navalny's investigation, was financed by companies linked to Putin's inner circle.
Navalny refers to the financing scheme as the "biggest bribe in the world".
The Kremlin critic points to Igor Sechin, head of the oil giant Rosneft, and businessman Yuri Kovalchuk, who is under Western sanctions and is allegedly Putin's banker, as being involved.
The funds for the property were allegedly obtained through questionable rental contracts involving state-owned companies, including the pipeline firm Transneft run by Nikolai Tokarev.
Tokarev, according to the investigation, was a KGB officer stationed alongside Putin in East Germany.
Following the release of Navalny's report that has garnered nearly 93 million views on YouTube and fuelled anti-Kremlin rallies over the weekend, Putin personally denied the allegations.
"Nothing that is listed there as my property belongs to me or my close relatives, and never did," the Russian president said during a video call with students.
He denounced the accusations as "brainwashing" of Russians using an edited photo montage and said there were no documents in the investigation providing proof of ownership.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said the Kremlin knows who the owners of the palace are but does not have the right to reveal their names.
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