Vladimir Putin is scaling up his personal protection against a potential coup and assassination threats, according to a leaked intelligence report, as the Kremlin escalates security measures amid signs of mounting domestic opposition.
The Russian leader is said to have largely abandoned his primary residences in Moscow and Valdai and “taken refuge in renovated bunkers”, according to the document attributed to an unspecified European Union intelligence service.
Russia’s federal protection service, the FSO, has sharply reduced Putin’s public appearances and taken control of public messaging about his activities, the report claims. The Kremlin has yet to comment.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin adviser now living abroad, told The i Paper the Russian President has become increasingly reclusive, with public appearances increasingly rare. He believes this is a result of growing Ukrainian threats and a decline in his domestic standing.
The main reason for Putin’s security fears is “increasing Ukrainian efficiency in terms of operations which they conduct in Russia – both targeted killings and attacks against Russian oil,” he said.
“Number two is growing displeasure with what’s going on in the country among Russian elites and the Russian population,” he added, pointing to a decline in Putin’s approval rating even with the state pollster, which found this had reached a wartime low of 65.6 per cent last month, down from around 80 in 2022.
Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin (Photo: Mikhail Metzel/Reuters/Sputnik)“He feels the amount of enemies inside the country is growing, including among the elites, so Ukrainians might easily find somebody who would want to target him inside the country,” said Gallyamov, adding that that the assassination of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by Israel and the US may have heightened Putin’s sense of insecurity.
The President’s staff is also said to have been subjected to new restrictions, with employees forbidden from using mobile phones with internet access, and public transport.
The Kremlin is on high alert following the assassinations of prominent figures including Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, with the leaked intelligence report saying his killing by car bomb in Moscow last December led to a heated meeting between intelligence chiefs to establish new security protocols.
The document also alleges serious concerns over coup plots, with Security Council leader Sergei Shoigu said to be under suspicion following the arrest of one of his former aides on corruption charges.
A source with knowledge of Russian security agency activities said that coup plots were likely to be exaggerated, and suggested the European intelligence report could have been intended to destabilise the Kremlin. But they added that Putin has sought enhanced security because of his concerns over Ukrainian attacks, particularly with drones.
Damage to a high-rise residential building in Moscow following a drone attack on Monday (Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP/Getty)Russian security media outlet Cheka reported that additional measures have been implemented around the Kremlin ahead of the annual Victory Day parade on Saturday, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany, and will go ahead without armoured vehicles for the first time in decades.
“There are checkpoints at the entrance to Moscow. Armoured vehicles and off-road vehicles with machine guns are back near the Kremlin,” the outlet reported. “There are also machine gunners on the Kremlin walls and towers.
“Special forces soldiers armed with machine guns, sniper rifles and special equipment are stationed on virtually every tower, wall and building in the Kremlin.”
Russia declared a temporary ceasefire with Ukraine ahead of the event following several successful drone attacks on Moscow over the past week, and threatened retaliation if the parade was disrupted through a “massive missile strike on the centre of Kyiv”.
The Kremlin has imposed further restrictions on mobile phone services over security concerns, with network operators warning customers to expect outages between Tuesday and the parade on 9 May. Disruptions were reported on Tuesday in Moscow and St Petersburg.
This follows restrictions earlier this year including bans on popular messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, which have drawn protests despite harsh wartime dissent.
Fashion blogger and model Victoria Bonya called out the Kremlin in a viral post (Photo: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)A Russian businessman in Moscow said the mobile restrictions were “pissing off about 95 per cent of the population”, and many residents have gone back to using cash to get around disruptions to mobile payments.
The reasons for the restrictions have not been properly explained and are fuelling anti-war sentiment, said the businessman, who has been broadly supportive of the regime and the war.
“I don’t know where my country is going but definitely not in the right direction,” he said. “I think that everyone has been tired with the war for at least a year. Huge money is being wasted, good lads are getting killed, and it’s not going anywhere.”
The regime has faced several public shows of dissent in recent weeks. A previously pro-Kremlin blogger, Ilya Remeslo, recently denounced Putin as a “war criminal and a thief”. He was incarcerated in a psychiatric facility.
Fashion blogger and model Victoria Bonya raised concerns over issues including internet restrictions and rising inflation in a viral social media post last month that drew a rare response from the Kremlin, which said it was working on those issues.
Gallyamov suggested the episode indicated growing “politicisation of the public” that could spell trouble for Russia’s dictator.
Franak Viačorka, chief advisor to Belarus’ opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said Putin is right to fear for his future.
“He realises that propaganda will not work forever — people are losing their sons in this war, and Ukraine is much more capable of carrying out strikes inside Russia,” he said. “In dictatorships like Russia, change can happen unexpectedly.”
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