Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich secretly paid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former high school teacher $245,000 for an apartment, it was revealed, a gesture that shows the deep financial ties between the two men.
Abramovich appeared to act as the despot’s personal banker when he provided the gifts — including an apartment — after Putin made a state visit to Israel in 2005 and met his former high school teacher, Mina Yuditskaya-Berliner, who had emigrated to Israel.