Russian President Vladimir Putin often travels across the country in an armored train, within the framework of which railway lines were brought in advance to the main residences of the head of state, along which secret stations were built.
This stems from the investigation of the “Project” publication.
According to the publication, the exclusive entrance to Putin’s beloved Valdai residence was equipped in 2019, which is indirectly confirmed by photographs from space. Even earlier, this happened with regard to the residences of Novo-Ogarevo near Moscow and Bocharov Ruchey in Sochi.
All structures are hidden as much as possible from prying eyes.
On his trips from Moscow, Putin departs from the VIP station in Kalanchevka (the center of the capital), surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire. All the wagons are armored and the green light is guaranteed everywhere for the special train, underlines the Project.
Earlier, the Dossier Center also reported that even before the start of the Kremlin-initiated war on Ukraine, Putin switched from planes to armored train. What caused this is not entirely clear. Either by the preferences of the president himself, or by the recommendations of his guards.
Also, according to the media, a launcher of anti-aircraft missiles “Pantsyr” was recently installed at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence.
At the same time, independent observers note that measures aimed at strengthening the security of the President are being taken against the background of regular reports of attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces against targets in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. As a result of raids and Russian air defense actions to repel attacks, civilians are killed and injured and homes are destroyed. In the territories of the Russian Federation bordering Ukraine, in fact, a paramilitary situation has been introduced.
“Under Putin, poles of hatred have formed between millions of citizens”
Vladimir Putin’s behavior proves once again that he has long ceased to be the leader uniting the country, Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov noted in an interview with the Russian media service. According to him, Putin never sought to identify with the people.
“If you remember, the Russian president, unlike the real leader of Ukraine (Vladimir) Zelenskyyy, was never at the front,” he added. “Although he was the one who started the massacre. Well, he doesn’t care about the people of Belgorod, Kursk and other regions who are suffering from the war. As however and on all the others, including the unfortunate mobilized who cover the battlefields in Ukraine with their bones. This is how the distribution of benefits occurs in the Kremlin: to someone an armored train to move around, to someone a one-way trip in a zinc coffin.
Russian media wrote about Putin’s alleged trip to the “war zone”. But the case was limited to the fact that he held a meeting with the army in Rostov-on-Don.
Worst of all, Putin is leading the country’s inevitable collapse, Gennady Gudkov says. According to him, irreconcilable contradictions have accumulated in society during the presidency.
“Under Putin, poles of hatred have formed between millions of citizens. And this is the harbinger of a possible civil war. Wars of all against all: regions against the centre, supporters of the war and its opponents, Russians and non-Russians, popular classes against upper classes, etc. Today’s war against Ukraine has not only divided the warring armies by the front line. She divided families, slept between close friends and relatives, neighbors and colleagues. And it will not end well, ”summarized the politician.
“The creation of a pseudo-political space in the country has become an end in itself for the regime”
In turn, the editor of Ezhednevny Zhurnal, Alexander Ryklin, believes that the story of the armored train adds little to the monumental portrait of Putin. It seems to him that the whole world already knows very well what the Russian president looks like.
“Nor would I be surprised if it turned out that the majority of the Russian population, having learned the means of moving the guarantor of the constitution through space, would say (following propaganda, of course): yes, what is strange here, the war is on the threshold of the country, so it is necessary that the leader of the nation be reliably guarded, protected and hidden, because various enemy sabotage groups are probably looking for him, – the source explains from media. “Although it is really difficult for a normal person to understand why certain branches, stations have been specially built for him – for special services disguised as attendants to bring him boiled potatoes with cucumbers and pies on the dock?”
At the same time, all this fits well within the framework of the “madness that is happening in Russia”, believes Alexander Ryklin: “On Tuesday, Putin met (Sergey) Mironov (leader of the Just Russia – For Truth faction in the State Duma). And I’m haunted by the thought that they might be telling each other something new, what was the meaning of their communication, was it at all, and what’s the point of this cheap performance? It all just looks ridiculous. Mironov is a perfect puppet held on a leash by Putin… The falsification of domestic political life, the creation of a pseudo-political space in the country has become an end in itself for the regime. And people are used to absurdity, gradually suggesting to them that this is the norm.
Sergei Mironov twice ran for the presidency of the Russian Federation, and both times he took the last place in the electoral campaign, is under Western sanctions, his party is considered a purely Kremlin project.
Moreover, given all the difficulties on the Ukrainian front, it would be good for the commander-in-chief of the army to appear there at least once in order to somehow cheer up his army, those whom he sends to death, the editor-in-chief of EJ argues.
“But Putin was not able to either. Coward, what can you do. I also do not remember that in his speeches he mentioned the plight of the inhabitants of the Belgorod and Kursk regions. But here , at least, everything is logical. This image does not correspond to the justification of the propaganda imposed by the Kremlin for the purposes of the war. The ruthless war with Nazism did not really begin for the same reason, so that ‘as a result of this Belgorod and Kursk were bombed, and Crimea in addition. People can ask themselves a reasonable question: who came to this? And here one cannot say that “everything happens as expected”…”, summed up the journalist
