Paranoid Putin: Russia's leader goes to extreme lengths to stay safe

Russian President Vladimir Putin prefers to travel in his country by armored train rather than airplane according to a source close to the dictator's inner circle.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky's investigative journalism project The Dossier Center tracks criminal activity within the Kremlin and recently found out that Putin has been traveling by armored train since mid-August 2021.

Putin has always believed he is at risk and under threat, like many other authoritarian presidents. However, in Putin's case, the measures he takes to protect himself from possible threats are quite extreme...

Among Putin's security measures, some border on being surreal. Others simply involve hundreds of people watching every move that Russia's undisputed leader makes. Let's look at some of Putin's craziest security measures.

As specified by the BBC, Putin uses the Russian Presidential Security Service as his personal surveillance network.

The Presidential Security Service is integrated into the Russian Federal Protective Service (FSO), which derives from the former KGB, and is also responsible for the protection of other high-ranking Kremlin officials.

Putin also has the Rosgvardia, or Russian National Guard, considered (in a way) as the personal army of the president, which Putin himself created in 2016.

The director of Rosgvardia is General Viktor Zolotov, Putin's former bodyguard, and there are about 400,000 troops under his direct control.

This large number of soldiers is not only dedicated to the protection of the president but also to arms control, combating terrorism, organized crime, protecting public order and protecting important state facilities.

When it comes to protecting  Putin, the security service is organized into four circles, according to the website Russia Beyond. The first is made up of hundreds of bodyguards. They are the closest to the Russian president and they are with him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The second is made up of plainclothes agents who mix with the public and the citizens present wherever they go.

A third circle is responsible for surrounding the public present and preventing any suspicious person from exceeding the security zone.

The fourth and final circle comprises snipers that surround the immediate area close to Vladimir Putin on the roofs of neighboring buildings.

As security expert Mark Galeotti pointed out to the BBC, an additional security complication is that Vladimir Putin does not like to fly and insists on taking a massive caravan of motorcycles, black armored cars, and trucks with him when he travels.

For these trips, says Mark Galeotti, the airspace is blocked, traffic is stopped, and extreme caution is exercised.

The matter takes on medieval overtones when we talk about the food that the Russian president eats.

According to Mark Galeotti, Putin has a personal food taster who tests everything the Russian leader is going to eat, to prevent it from being poisoned.

In addition, before serving any food to the Russian president, his bodyguards must first verify that there are no suspicious elements in the preparation, according to what Stephan Hall, an expert on Russia, told the BBC.

Preventive measures do not stop there, because when he makes a trip, the Russian president brings his own food and drink. Even if there is a toast, Vladimir Putin pours himself a drink from his own bottle.

Communications are limited in the close environment of Vladimir Putin and smartphones are prohibited in the Kremlin.

In an interview with the Russian news agency TASS, Vladimir Putin admitted this: only an official, internal line can be used to contact someone inside the Kremlin.

According to The Guardian, Putin distrusts the internet because he considers it "a CIA project".

In fact, Vladimir Putin has called on Russians on several occasions to not use Google for their searches, considering that it is a tool of the United States to monitor the interests of the Russian population. Reason here (perhaps) is not lacking but monitoring is, rather, used for the commercial interests of the company that owns Google.

Instead of the network of networks, Vladimir Putin uses the traditional method: paper. “He starts his day with three security briefings. One is what’s going on in the world, one is what’s going on in Russia, and the third is what’s going on inside the elite. For him, this is the most important information and the one that will define his day," Mark Galeotti points out in his statements to the BBC.

Personally, the situation of the Russian president is one of almost monastic isolation. If the pandemic had limited access to the president to a few people, the attack on Ukraine has made even more difficult to meet with Putin.

Indeed, Vladimir Putin's health is treated as a matter of national security. Anyone who wants to see him must undergo quarantine, a medical exam and several PCRs. Tell that to Emmanuele Macron, President of France, who refused to follow these guidelines and angered the Russian leader.

The famous photo of Macron at a table of unusual length was due to the Frenchman's refusal to take tests before speaking with Putin. However, the use of very long tables to maintain an exaggerated safety distance became common since the pandemic broke out.

Even in a meeting with such close associates as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Putin kept his distance. Some media have suggested that Covid 19 isolated Putin and placed him on the verge of paranoia.

The Putin who currently shields his existence against external threats seems very different from the one who, in other times, portrayed himself as a seasoned adventurer, riding, hunting or fishing in Siberia. Things certainly have changed.