Putin has identical offices in different cities and secret trains – ex-FSU officer

A senior Russian intelligence official who left the service last year has revealed the paranoid lifestyle of Russian President Vladimir Putin, confirming details of a secret train network, identical offices in different cities, strict personal quarantine and escalating security protocols.

Gleb Karakulov, who served as a captain in the Federal Security Service (FSO), told the Dossier Center, an organization founded by exiled Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in an interview.

During his service, Karakulov was tasked with protecting Russia’s top officials. He says that these measures were designed to conceal the whereabouts of the Russian president, whom he described as “pathologically fearful for his life.”

The 36-year-old former FSO officer says the train was used because it “cannot be traced on any information resource. It was done for the purpose of secrecy.”

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The Russian publication Project has previously reported on the existence of a train and a secret railroad network that includes parallel lines and stations near Putin’s residences in the Valdai National Park in Novo-Ogaryovo and near his Bocharov Stream residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The Guardian examined an interview with Karakulov and confirmed the credentials of a senior Russian communications engineer who traveled extensively with Putin and helped to transmit some of his most secret messages.

Karakulov was a member of the Presidential Communications Directorate’s “field team” that encrypts messages from top Russian officials, and he is estimated to have made more than 180 trips with senior officials.

– He appears to have become the highest-ranking intelligence official to defect since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” The Guardian writes.

In the interview, Karakulov called Putin a “war criminal” and told his colleagues that they should report information that was being withheld from the Russian public.

– Our president has lost touch with the world. For the last few years, he has been living in an information cocoon, spending most of his time in his residences, which the media very appropriately call bunkers. He is pathologically afraid for his life. He surrounds himself with an impenetrable barrier of quarantines and information vacuum. He values only his own life and the lives of his family and friends,” he said.

Karakulov described a virtual state within a state that includes firefighters, food testers and other engineers who travel with Putin on his foreign trips, providing a rare first-hand look at the Russian president’s level of paranoia and sheltered lifestyle.

– “They call him Boss, worship him in every way possible, and speak of him only in those terms,” he said.

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Karakulov also spoke about organizing secret communications with Putin on airplanes, helicopters, luxury yachts, and even in a bomb shelter at the Russian embassy in Kazakhstan during a visit in October 2022, when Karakulov eventually fled to Turkey and from there to an unknown country in the west.

He confirmed that Putin relies heavily on reports provided by his security services for information. According to Karakulov, Putin does not use a cell phone or the Internet and does not even take an Internet specialist with him on his foreign trips.

– He receives information only from his inner circle, which means he lives in an information vacuum,” he said.

“Putin is still in quarantine and requires that all employees who work in the same room with him also undergo a two-week quarantine, which severely limits the number of people who have personal contact with him.

Karakulov said that Putin used the same offices in St. Petersburg, Sochi and Novo-Ogaryovo, and that the secret services used fake motorcades and decoy planes to pretend he was traveling.

– This is a ploy to, firstly, confuse foreign intelligence, and secondly, to prevent any attempts on his life,” he said.

According to him, Putin’s behavior and lifestyle have changed significantly since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when the president refused to travel and make most public appearances.

– He shut himself off from the world. His perception of reality has become distorted,” Karakulov said.

The interview does not say what messages Karakulov encrypted for Putin or other senior officials, nor does it provide further details about Putin’s preparations for war against Ukraine or planned strategies.

Karakulov described his risky escape to the West during Putin’s visit to Kazakhstan. During the trip, his wife and daughter secretly flew to Astana. They postponed their escape several times until almost the very end of the trip, when Karakulov told his colleagues that he was feeling unwell and then fled with his family to the airport.

The Dossier Center reported that Karakulov’s whereabouts are currently unknown. The Guardian confirmed that Karakulov is listed as a wanted man in the Russian Interior Ministry’s open database as a suspect in crimes.

He said he had been opposed to the war in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, but had been waiting to convince his wife to flee with the family. He said he had not yet spoken to his parents, who were supporters of the war.

Although the strict quarantine regime has fueled rumors that Putin may be seriously ill and fears complications from the coronavirus, Karakulov said he has seen no signs that Putin is in poor health.