Putin’s Train

Putin’s Train

Many years ago, I spoke with a Russian about train travel from Siberia to the Volga Region. Said person had family who were members of the railway mafia. (an interesting report on Russia’s railways)

A senior Russian security officer who defected last year has given a rare insight into the paranoid lifestyle of 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 Protection Service (FSO), a powerful body tasked with protecting Russia’s highest-ranking officials, said the measures were designed to mask the whereabouts of the Russian president, whom he described as “pathologically afraid for his life”.

The 36-year-old said the train was used because it “cannot be tracked on any information resource. It’s done for stealth purposes.”

The Russian investigative outlet Proekt reported previously on the existence of the train and of a secret railway network including parallel lines and stations near Putin’s residences in Novo-Ogaryovo in the Moscow region, and near his Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The Guardian has reviewed an interview with Karakulov by the Dossier Centre, a political information outfit founded by the exiled Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and confirmed the credentials of the senior Russian communications engineer, who traveled with Putin extensively and helped transmit some of his most secret messages.

Gleb Karakulov pictured during an interview in Turkey in December 2022 from a video provided by the Dossier Center. Photograph: AP

Karakulov was a member of the “field team” of the Presidential Communications Directorate that encrypts the messages of top Russian officials and estimated he had traveled on more than 180 trips with top officials. He appears to be the highest-ranking intelligence official to defect since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

In the interview, Karakulov called Putin a “war criminal” and told fellow officers they should come forward with information being hidden from the Russian public.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Korotkov noticed a sharp increase in the composition of Putin’s train. “It is racing like crazy, and all other scheduled trains give way to him,” commented the Russian

Karakulov described a virtual state within a state that includes firefighters, food testers, and other engineers who travel with Putin on his trips abroad, providing a rare first-hand insight into the levels of paranoia and sheltered lifestyle of the Russian president. “They call him the Boss, worship him in every way, and only ever talk of him in those terms,” he said.

Karakulov also described setting up secret communications for Putin on planes, helicopters, lavish yachts and even in a bomb shelter at the Russian embassy in Kazakhstan during an October 2022 visit when Karakulov ultimately fled to Turkey and from there to an undisclosed country in the west.

He confirmed that Putin relies heavily on information in reports provided by his security services. Putin did not use a mobile phone or the internet, Karakulov said and did not even bring an internet specialist with him on foreign trips. “He only receives information from his closest circle, which means that he lives in an information vacuum,” he said.

Gleb Karakulov’s FSO ID card. As an engineer in the presidential communications department, he was responsible for setting up secure communications for the Russian president and prime minister. Photograph: AP

Putin is still in quarantine and requires all staff working in the same room as him to also undergo a two-week quarantine, severely limiting the number of people who have personal contact with him.

Karakulov said Putin used identical offices in St Petersburg, Sochi and Novo-Ogaryovo, and that the secret services used fake motorcades and decoy planes to pretend he was leaving. “This is a ruse to confuse foreign intelligence, in the first place, and secondly, to prevent any attempts on his life,” he said.

He said Putin’s behavior and lifestyle had altered significantly since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 when the president retreated from most travel and public appearances.

“He has shut himself off from the world,” Karakulov said. “His take on reality has become distorted.”

The interview did not give information on what messages Karakulov had encrypted for Putin or other top officials, or more information on Putin’s preparations for the war or strategy.