No democratically elected leader should live in a palace!
That is for kings...

In fact, I think their finances should be carefully monitored by some kind of committe to make sure they don't get tempted to fiddle with state money. Leaders should be people who are passionate about doing a good job of leading a country, not people who care about being rich!

I have read that Putin is really one of the richest people in Russia (which already has some disgustingly rich people..) Not sure if this is malicious gossip as he himself says or true.