OLIVE PRESS
The FREE
DEAL STRUCK AS supermarket shelves begin to empty relieved Balearic bosses have managed to avert a threatened truckers’ strike that would have hit
deliveries. The Balearic government and transport association have agreed to call off a strike planned for March 28. Nationwide strikes have been causing chaos on the mainland in recent weeks, with the Balearic administration concerned they could spill over to the Balaerics, causing severe disruption to food supplies. There are already shortages of a number of products in supermarket chains on the islands. Supplies of chicken, fish, oil and dairy products are particularly low.
Relief
According to some of the biggest chains, the shortages are worse than at any time during the pandemic. Bartolome Servera, the president of the distributors association in the Balearics, said that if strikes continue, food supplies could only be guaranteed for 15 to 20 days. Truck drivers had threatened strikes akin to those witnessed on the mainland unless their demands for lower taxes and lighter regulations were met. But consumers will be relieved to learn that the employers’ association agreed to a deal on Wednesday to cancel the strike following an agreement which will see increased subsidies of €5.5 million for around 7,000 public freight transport drivers. The Balearic government meanwhile has said basic food supplies will be guaranteed, despite the ongoing disruption.
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UKRAINE CRISIS SPECIAL FOCUS
Chateau Putin
IT is known as the Rock of the King (or Roca del Rey), a giant 2000m square palace with a private vineyard, helicopter pad and a dozen bedrooms in the hills above Marbella. One of southern Spain’s most expensive mansions, it also boasts a vineyard, bowling alley, mini golf course and, perhaps predictably, a ‘shooting range’. But it is what is under the ground that should be of considerably more concern to the authorities. The Olive Press can reveal that the Russian-owned mega-mansion near Marbella has no less than three basements and numerous tunnels dug into the hills overlooking the strategic Straits of Gibraltar. As well as a giant wine cellar with its own separate champagne room filled with vintage bottles - a classic hallmark of President Putin - it also counts a ‘high-tech panic room’ and a ‘control room, full of screens and buttons’. There are two guard stations ‘with at least 10 guards’, a satellite facility and ‘an underground monitoring device pointing towards the straits’, one source told the Olive Press. While officially it is impossible to know who really owns the property in Spain’s most expensive private enclave, La
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PALATIAL: Putin mansion facing Gibraltar with armed guards and underground bunkers, and panic room
EXCLUSIVE: Despite Spain declaring there are no oligarchs owning here, the Olive Press can reveal at least one - ‘a genuine fortress with at least 10 security guards’ with intriguingly close links to the Russian dictator By Jon Clarke & Jorge Hinojosa
Zagaleta, in Benahavis, various Olive Press sources say they are certain that Putin is the main investor. “He has definitely visited a number of times, when security is incredibly high,” revealed one.
“Zagaleta already has among the best security in Europe, but when Putin is visiting, there is a whole extra level and you can’t get near the house.” More alarmingly, a high-ranking Ukranian resident in Spain, knows a number of people currently working in the property and claims it has armed guards. “They carry guns and I also know that a number of drones have been shot down from the sky by them,” she explained. She continued: “When you arrive it is like an airport. You are carefully searched and you have a sticker put on your phone so you can’t take pictures.
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The guards will also know if it has been removed or altered in any way. Everybody is watched all the time.” Insisting she must remain anonymous for fear of attack by the Russian secret service, she added: “It’s definitely Putin’s house and I know all about its size and luxuries, the place is literally dripping with gold.” And she added: “It is certainly not the only house that Putin has in Spain and he owns others with partners, with at least one in the Alicante province.” The Ukranian woman, who is now in close touch with the Spanish authorities, added the government should be investigating them and ‘they should be sanctioned at a European Continues on Page 2