Putin and Berlusconi’s £60k sherry tipple

Ukrainian authorities have opened a criminal case into the alleged uncorking of a 240-year-old bottle of wine for Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, in Crimea.

During a visit to what is claimed to be the biggest wine collection in the world at the Massandra winery, Mr Putin and his longtime friend tried a 1775 Jeres de la Frontera that was brought to Crimea by Count Mikhail Vorontsov, during the reign of Catherine the Great.

Crimea’s 100-year-old Massandra winery was formerly Ukrainian state property before being nationalised by Russian Federation. It has rare wine and sherry dating back more than 200 years in its collection; one bottle fetched almost 32,000 British pounds ($49,700) in 2001.

“This is one of the five bottles that constitute not only Massandra’s or Crimea’s heritage, but the heritage of all Ukrainian people, ” Nazar Kholodnytsky, first deputy prosecutor for Crimea told the Associated Press in Kiev.

Massandra’s previous director Nikolay Boyko was sacked in February after Russian prosecutors filed fraud charges against him.

“Now she’s added one more crime to high treason”, Mr Kholodnytsky said. The charges, however, would be moot since Russian Federation now has full control over Crimea.

Footage broadcast on Russian television showed Mr Berlusconi examining a vintage bottle from its vast cellars during a tour, and asking the winery’s director if he could try it.

Berlusconi had united Putin in Crimea and get a day from visiting famous sites, checking out a all time cathedral and lying down roses for a tombstone to effectively Sicilian warriors whom conducted within the Crimean warfare.

“Is it possible to drink?” After the visit, Ukraine’s national security council issued a decree banning Mr Berlusconi from the country for three years for the “security of our government”.

“Yes” said Massandra’s director Yanina Pavlenko, according to Radio Free Europe.