Leyla Aliyeva’s Little Getaway in the Piney Woods

Published: 05 August 2015

maiendorf-info

By OCCRP

It’s no secret that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s family likes nice houses.

There’s the US$ 25 million London mansion, the properties worth US$ 75 million in Dubai, the millions more invested in the Czech Republic enclave of Karlovy Vary.

So when eldest daughter Leyla Aliyeva married Russo-Azerbaijani pop star Emin Agalarov in 2006, she naturally needed a place to live outside of Moscow. She ended up buying a property in Mayendorf Gardens, a secretive and highly exclusive enclave populated by the ultra-rich, the famous, and the notorious. Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin lives just down the road.

But don’t think you can drop by for a look at Leyla’s place—an OCCRP reporter never made it past the enclave’s well-guarded front gate.