Kathrine Frich
He now avoids the skies entirely.
Security is a normal part of life for world leaders.
But when a conflict drags on for years, basic safety protocols can spiral into elaborate games of hide and seek.
Paranoia eventually takes over completely.
A life in hiding
Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to extreme lengths to mask his travel plans. His security team has adopted wild new strategies as Ukrainian drones strike deeper into Russian territory.
A recent report from The New York Times cited by United24Media details how the Kremlin deploys decoy presidential motorcades. These massive convoys speed through Moscow streets entirely empty. The fake trips confuse anyone trying to track him.
The deception extends far beyond city traffic. To completely fake his whereabouts, Putin has built nearly identical offices at his different residences in the Moscow suburbs and the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Investigative reporter Mikhail Rubin first uncovered the twin offices in 2020. Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty later found tiny differences in door handles and wall seams. These subtle details proved the broadcasts came from different places.
Playing with time
State television actively helps maintain the illusion. Russian journalists call these pre-recorded broadcasts canned goods. Government officials film meetings days or weeks before they actually air on television.
Exiled journalist Farida Rustamova has pointed out clumsy mistakes in this media strategy. She noticed officials discussing outdated events or showing up with different haircuts across various broadcasts.
Sometimes the background gives the trick away. Reporters tracking the supposedly live broadcasts have even studied the wilting and reversing decay of office plants to prove the timeline was faked.
The phantom train
When the Russian leader actually needs to travel, he avoids the skies entirely. The New York Times reports that Putin relies on a secret armored train to dodge satellite tracking and flight radars.
The fortified locomotive looks like a standard passenger train on the outside, but it features a gym, a spa, and specialized communications equipment. It runs on secret railway branches that lead to hidden stations built just for him.
“Putin in this sense is a caricature of a figure who has taken everything happening around him to the point of absurdity,” Rubin told The New York Times.
The extreme security measures were obvious during his August trip to Novosibirsk. Authorities cut mobile networks and ordered residents away from windows. They even shut off digital gas prices to hide a national fuel crisis as his convoy passed by.
Sources: United24 Media, The New York Times, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty
