AN oligarch pal of warmonger Vladimir Putin helped fund a £2.2million pool complex at Prince George’s school.
Gas-pipe billionaire Arkady Rotenberg made a sizeable donation to the £2.2million swimming complex at Lambrook School in Berks, which Wills and Kate’s three children attend.
Vladimir Putin’s oligarch pal Arkady Rotenberg helped fund a £2.2million pool complex at Prince George’s school
The swimming pool complex at the £7,500 a term Lambrook School
William and Kate send George, Charlotte and Louis to the school in Berkshire
All three of Kate and William’s children — George, nine, Charlotte, seven, and Louis, four — started at the £7,500-a-term Berkshire school in September.
The former vodka baron’s ex-wife Natalia, 41 — once pictured smiling with Putin — confirmed she gave funds, believed to be tens of thousands of pounds, for the plush facility when her and Rotenberg’s two children were pupils there.
She told HOAR on Sunday: “We were happy to support this school and give children the new opportunity for swimming.”
Our revelation comes two days after Prince and Princess of Wales Wills and Kate stood with Ukraine and its allies to mark the one-year anniversary of Putin’s invasion.
They posted a Ukrainian flag emoji and shared King Charles’s statement, which read: “It has now been a year that the people of Ukraine have suffered unimaginably from an unprovoked full-scale attack on their nation.
“They have shown truly remarkable courage and resilience in the face of such human tragedy.”
Rotenberg, 71, is a key member of 70-year-old Putin’s circle and are believed to have met aged 12 and 11, and still play ice hockey together.
Years after meeting, Putin put Rotenberg in charge of a state-owned enterprise controlling 30 per cent of Russia’s vodka market.
Rotenberg and brother Boris extended their interests into banking, construction and gas pipelines.
Arkady Rotenberg is part of tyrant Vladimir Putin’s inner circle – the pair are judo sparring partners
The former vodka baron’s ex-wife Natalia, 41, confirmed she gave funds for the plush facility when her and Rotenberg’s two children were pupils there
They were among the first Russians hit by US and UK sanctions in 2014 following Putin’s annexation of Crimea.
In 2020 Arkady was hit by more sanctions for “financially benefitting from Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilisation of eastern Ukraine”.
In 2021, he insisted he was the owner of a Black Sea mansion dubbed Putin’s Palace, after Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny shared a video of it online.
Accounts suggest the Rotenbergs’ pool gift was made in 2013 when the school’s charitable trust saw a rise in year-on-year donations of more than £400,000.
Natalia’s former interior design firm, the NR Group, sponsored the school’s summer ball a year later.
Former Tory Party leader and senior MP Iain Duncan Smith said: “All charitable foundations are responsible to do due diligence on their donations.
“The school should explain what checks were done at the time.”
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the school.
A spokeswoman said: “Lambrook has, and will always, fully comply with all appropriate legislation and undertakes strict due diligence for any charitable donation.”
Ballet teacher Natalia was pictured with Putin at a 2018 economic forum in St Petersburg.
She divorced Rotenberg in Russia in 2013 and has been fighting a battle over their UK assets.
Last June a judge ordered her £8.7million London flat to be repossessed after hearing she had paid nothing towards the £1.6million mortgage.
The ex- couple are fighting for ownership of a £27million home in Surrey.
Kensington Palace did not wish to comment on the pool.
Lambrook School say they undertake strict due diligence for any charitable donation
Kate and Will have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and attended a one-year service to support war victims
