Putin is concerned about drone attacks and assassinations, which led to a tightening of security. “The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin himself are concerned about the possible leakage of sensitive information, as well as the risk of a conspiracy or coup attempt targeting the Russian president. He is particularly concerned about the use of drones for a possible assassination attempt by members of the Russian political elite,” according to the text of one of the European secret services, CNN reported.
“The shock of the Ukrainian operation Spiderweb is still lingering,” a person familiar with the events surrounding Putin told The Financial Times. In this operation last year, the Ukrainians managed to smuggle small drones into Russia and launch them directly from containers on trucks at strategic bomber airports.
The fear increased even more after the American commando captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the base near Caracas. After that, the FSO tightened protection, Putin canceled planned visits, and the security checks of people who visit Putin became even more strict, a representative of the European secret services told the newspaper. Visitors go through two levels of control and part of it is a tour by members of the FSO.
Fears of a possible attack or coup have further increased since March, when the US attacked Iran.
While last year Putin made at least 17 public appearances and trips and repeatedly arrived at military headquarters, this year on April 27 he appeared in public for only the second time, when he visited a school of modern gymnastics in his native St. Petersburg, where he kissed a girl on the forehead. This was followed by a meeting with representatives of ethnic minorities in Moscow on April 30.
Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Reuters
Vladimir Putin with representatives of the indigenous population
In the first three months of this year, Putin took part in only 50 events where the public could attend, while last year there were 70 and 110 the year before, said Farita Rustamová from the Vlast server.
Tightened security measures
Putin’s isolation has been growing since the covid-19 pandemic, but now it has reached a new level. Personnel looking after Putin, including cooks, photographers and bodyguards, are not allowed to use public transport, they travel exclusively in FSO vehicles. It is forbidden to use mobile phones and devices that can be connected to the Internet in the vicinity of the president. They have cameras installed in the apartments.
FSO agents are deployed along the Moscow River in order to quickly respond to a drone attack, European intelligence sources said. Controls are carried out with dogs in the center of Moscow. Some mobile internet outages in parts of the capital are linked to protection against drone attacks.
FSO significantly narrowed the list of places that the president regularly visits. Putin and his family no longer go to their villa near Moscow or to the residence in Valdai, near which Ukrainian drones targeting oil infrastructure flew over. The Russian president spends more and more time in the bunkers, where he devotes himself to the details of the fight. He also spent several weeks in a bunker in the Krasnodar region in the south of Russia, which is relatively close to the front.
