Europe News Desk!! A senior Russian security official who defected last year has given a rare insight into President Vladimir Putin’s crazy lifestyle, detailing a secret train network, identical offices in different cities, a strict personal quarantine and heightened security protocols. Gleb Karakulov, who served as a captain in the Federal Security Service (FSO), the powerful body tasked with protecting Russia’s highest-ranking officials, said measures were taken to conceal the Russian president’s whereabouts, The Guardian reported. was designed, which he described as desperately fearing for his life. The media outlet reported that the 36-year-old said that the train was used because it could not be tracked on any information resource. This was done for secret purposes. Russian investigative outlet Proekt previously reported the existence of the train and the secret railway network, including parallel lines and stations near Putin’s residences in Valdai National Park in Novo-Ogryovo and his Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Karakulov was a member of the Presidential Communications Directorate’s field team that encrypts messages from top Russian officials and it is estimated that he traveled with top officials on more than 180 trips. The report said he appeared to be the highest-ranking intelligence official to defect since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Karakulov described the virtual situation within the state involving firefighters, food testers and other engineers who accompany Putin on his foreign trips, providing a rare direct insight into the level of paranoia and the Russian president’s sheltered lifestyle . Karakulov also described setting up secret communications for Putin at the Russian embassy in Kazakhstan during an October 2022 visit, when Karakulov eventually fled to Turkey and from there to an undisclosed country in the west. According to Karakulov, Putin relied heavily for information on reports provided by his security services. Putin did not use a mobile phone or the Internet, and did not bring an Internet expert with him on foreign trips. He receives information only from his closest circle, which means he lives in an information vacuum.
–IANS
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