Putin’s relative might be owner of former Finnish villa in Sortavala

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By Jussi Kontinen
     
      Finding out the owner of a property in Russia is a challenging task.
      The property concerned is a villa by Lake Ladoga near Sortavala in the Republic of Karelia, and it is currently being refurbished.
      The building in question was designed by Eliel Saarinen and commissioned by surgeon Gustav Winter. It was completed in 1908.
      In architectural terms, the villa is not a typical building for the type and use, but it comes very close to functionalism.
      The exterior walls have been lined with shingles, while the base has been strengthened with stones.
      In the course of the many years’ renovation, damage caused by leaks has been repaired, the shingles have been replaced by new ones, and the foundations have been strengthened. The renovation projected should be completed this year.
     
But who is the person behind the renovations?
      According to some rumours circulating in Sortavala, the new owner is a relative of Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia.
      The rumours are impossible to verify, as ZAO Nord Hauz, a company that owns the area, has not submitted its shareholders’ register to the Russian Trade Register.
      All that is known is the fact that 20 per cent of the shares were acquired by the Russia Bank, the major shareholder of which is Yuriy Kovalchuk, a man who has been characterised as a friend of Putin.
      Moreover, three spacious holiday homes for private use are being built in the same area.
      They have been disguised by a camouflage net facing the direction of Lake Ladoga.
      The construction workers come from St. Petersburg.
      ”We do not know ourselves who is the owner of these buildings”, one of the construction workers says.
     
The villa designed by Eliel Saarinen has a colourful history.
      After the house had been completed in 1908, surgeon Gustav Winter planted a park, which still has some 60 tree species: Swiss pines, Siberian firs, and larches.
      After the war, when this area had been ceded to the Soviet Union and the entire displaced Finnish population of Sortavala had moved west behind the new borders, it became a rest-home for the Communist Party’s Central Committee.
      In the current century, a holiday village has risen around the villa. It offers cosy accommodation, featuring a restaurant and large cottages.
      The builder of the village, the local forest magnate Mark Kogan, sold the place shortly before his death a year ago.
     
Kogan’s widow Irina has continued as the director of the company.
      She receives the reporter in her modest office.
      Kogan asserts that the holiday village will continue its operation, and the renovated villa will become a place that is open to the public.
     
But who owns 80 per cent of the company? All Kogan is willing to reveal is that the owner is a man who lives in St. Petersburg.
      ”I do not know whose relative he is, but at least his name is not Putin”, Kogan says with a faint smile.
      After the interview, a militia officer waiting in the yard checks the reporter’s documents.
      A young plainclothes man is accompanying the officer.
     
”Why are you interested in this place? What will be the angle of your report? When will it be published?” he asks.
      The reporter would also have some additional questions, but they go unanswered.
      He has to contemplate them while walking along an avenue lined with trees planted by Doctor Winter.
      The idea for this Kuiskausten kuja (”Whisper Allée”) has been copied from Valamo, best known as the site of the Valamo Orthodox Monastery.
      The avenue is lined with two rows of huge spruces, and walking between them should help one clarify one’s thoughts.
     
Today, Sortavala is experiencing an interesting era when it comes to the preservation of the Finnish architectural heritage.
      Hotel Seurahuone - one of the masterpieces of Finnish functionalism - will change hands, when the Russian army relinquishes the property to the City of Sortavala.
      The building was designed by architect Erkki Huttunen and completed in 1938, shortly before the outbreak of hostilities.
      In the Soviet era, the building served as an officers’ club.
      After a heated debate on the plan to privatize the property, President Dmitry Medvedev eventually decided that the building was to be relinguished to the city.
      The City of Sortavala has not made any decision yet on the future use of the building.
     
Another valuable property, the former surgical hospital - also handed over by the army - has been left empty, while nobody has been willing to buy it. Reportedly, soldiers have taken away everything that was not nailed down.
      The neo-romantic building was designed by Magnus Schjerfbeck, on the initiative of that same surgeon, Gustav Winter.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 24.1.2010


Links:
  Sortavala (Wikipedia)
  Eliel Saarinen (Wikipedia)

JUSSI KONTTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jussi.konttinen@hs.fi