The Kremlin has dramatically increased the level of personal protection of Russian President Vladimir Putin. They installed surveillance devices in the homes of members of his close associates, as part of new measures prompted by a wave of assassinations of high-ranking Russian military officials, as well as fears of a coup. This follows from the report of the intelligence service of an unnamed member country of the European Union, which was obtained by CNN, writes TASR.
- The Kremlin is installing surveillance devices in the homes of Vladimir Putin’s associates.
- Personnel working for Putin are not allowed to travel on public transport or use internet phones.
- Putin has limited trips to traditional residences and often hides in bunkers.
- Moscow fears the leakage of secret information, elite conspiracy and drone assassination.
- Shojgu is considered a possible coup risk due to his continued influence.
Chefs, security guards and photographers who work with the Russian president are also banned from public transport, the report said. Visitors heading to the head of state must be checked twice, and those who work near him they can only use phones without internet connection.
Russian security officials have significantly reduced the number of places Putin visits. The head of the Kremlin and his family no longer go to their usual residences in the Moscow region and Lake Valdai – the president’s secluded summer residence, located between St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Putin has also not visited any military installations this year, and this despite the fact that he regularly undertook such trips last year, warns the report, according to which the Kremlin publishes his pre-recorded footage to the public in order to circumvent these measures.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin also spends whole weeks in modernized bunkers, often in the Krasnodar region, in the coastal region bordering the Black Sea, which is a few hours’ drive from Moscow, the report states further.
Russian losses in this war, which Western countries estimate at approximately 30,000 dead and wounded per month, coupled with limited front-line territorial gains and repeated drone strikes by Ukraine deep into Russian territory, have increased the damage and negative impact of the conflict to a level many consider unsustainable.
The economic costs of war are now tangible— mobile data outages, which regularly plague big cities, are also criticized by Putin’s followers, which further strengthens the feeling that the war is also beginning to affect the urban elite, which has so far been mostly insulated from the consequences of the invasion, CNN cites.
The message too provides rare details about Moscow’s concerns about deteriorating internal security and states that from early March 2026 “The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin himself are concerned about the possible leakage of sensitive information, as well as the risk of a conspiracy or coup attempt. He is particularly concerned about the use of drones for a possible assassination attempt by members of the Russian political elite.”
The report also states that suspended former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who currently serves as the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, “comes with the risk of a coup because he retains considerable influence in the top military command”.
Putin survived a coup attempt in June 2023, when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a mercenary commander from Wagner’s group, attempted an advance on Moscow that ended in failure. Internal disputes within Moscow’s elite are often the subject of widespread speculation, but their details are rarely revealed. CNN reminds that the nature of such intelligence makes it difficult to verify some details, adding that she has asked the Kremlin for comment.
Despite such information, Putin regularly appears in public. For example, he recently met with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi.
Details of the new security measures come just days after Moscow announced significant changes to the organization of the May 9 Red Square parade commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany.
This year’s event – the fifth since the start of the invasion of Ukraine – will take place without a parade of heavy weapons, such as armored vehicles and missiles. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that one of the motivations was the security threat and successes of Ukrainian airstrikes far into the Russian interior.
