Vladimir Putin cultivates the image of a man who enjoys simple pursuits such as fishing and hiking, but the perks of his presidential office make his tastes appear rather less Spartan.

A dossier drawn up by a political rival of the Russian president suggests that he has 58 planes and helicopters at his use, that he has a collection of watches worth ￡400,000, and that he relaxes at more than 20 palaces and country retreats.

The report also claims that Mr Putin uses an Ilyushin jet with a ￡111.3 million cabin that includes a bathroom that has gold fittings and a ￡50,000 lavatory.

Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, concluded in his report that Mr Putin’s existence “can be compared with that of the monarchs of the Persian Gulf or the most outrageous oligarchs”.

The Russian leader, 59, has often played on his humble beginnings to popular effect. He once described how, as a child, he had to beat aside rats with a stick at the entrance to his parents’ communal apartment in St Petersburg.

Mr Putin, a judo black belt and amateur ice hockey player, has also projected his job as a punishing challenge fraught with austerity. Mr Nemtsov’s report is titled “The Life of a Galley Slave”, in reference to a comment by Mr Putin on finishing his second term as president in 2008, when he said: “I’m not ashamed before the citizens who voted for me. All these eight years I’ve been toiling like a galley slave, with every ounce of my strength. And I’m pleased with the results.”

Among the perks said to be available to the president are a ￡600 million Italianate palace at Gelendzhik on the Black Sea coast and a ￡26 milllion yacht called Sirius with whirlpool baths, a cinema and an artificial waterfall.

Another 176ft yacht includes a spa pool, waterfall and wine cellar, but “the real diamond of the Kremlin flotilla,” the report claims, is a five-decked boat with a jacuzzi, barbecue, a maple wood colonnade and a bathroom faced in marble.

A 2,300-acre residence on Lake Valdai in north-western Russia has a cinema, a bowling alley and a “presidential church”, and it is said a little-known three-storey residence near Saratov, on the Volga river south-east of Moscow, has German chandeliers and Italian furniture, and features a billiard room, a winter garden, a pool and sauna.

According to his official income declaration Mr Putin earned ￡70,000 last year, making his suggested watch collection alone worth almost six times his annual salary.

(Read by CJ Henderson. CJ Henderson isa journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)