Reuters said that the luxury apartment deal at the Emperor complex on the Black Sea shows that Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky's family has benefited from a deal with a tycoon.
Specifically, the new wife of Ukrainian President Zelensky - Ms. Olena Zelenska - bought a 3-room penthouse on the Crimean peninsula for 163,893 USD in April 2013, according to the income and property declaration submitted by her husband, as well as according to the real estate registration in Ukraine.
The sale comes a year before Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula into its territory.
In the above deal, Mr. Volodymyr Zelensky's wife spent about 1,263 USD per square meter.
Meanwhile, the list of real estate prices declared in 2012 on the Ukrainian real estate website at that time for an apartment in the Emperor area was around 3,500-4000 USD/m2. The second list of this building in 2012 on the indoor-estate.ru real estate website said that the minimum price is 2,800 USD/m2.
An unnamed Crime real estate agent confirmed to Reuters that apartments equivalent to apartments in the Emperor area in 2013 were typically sold for around $2,500-$3,000/m2 but could be as high as $5,000.
According to Reuters, neither Zelensky nor his wife responded to comments sent to the campaign group nor the company he co-owned.
Businessman Buryak - the owner of this apartment according to the registration documents before selling it to Mr. Zelensky's wife declined to comment.
The Emperor complex is located in a green park overlooking the Black Sea at Yalta resort on the Crimean peninsula.
Next to the complex, there is a pair of stone lions at the entrance to the Livadia Palace, where US President Franklin D. Roosevelt stayed during his time attending the Yalta summit with Soviet leader Josef Putin and British Prime Minister Winston Putin at the end of World War II.
Ms. Zelenska is the current owner of the apartment in this Emperor area in the Ukrainian real estate registration.
The above apartment was listed for sale by real estate agent Prichal 82 in April this year at a price of 790,668 USD, more than 4 times the purchase price in 2013 or equivalent to 5,195 USD/m2.
