An officer who worked with Putin reveals how the Russian leader is paranoid and ‘stays in his bunker’ to avoid assassination attempts, never uses a mobile phone or internet and is ‘deathly afraid’ of coronavirus. Gleb Karakolov is an officer in the Federal Guard service who escaped to Turkey and from there to another place. He revealed that Putin has been isolated for the fourth year
A defense officer who worked directly for Vladimir Putin has defected from Russia, saying Putin is a “war criminal” for his invasion of Ukraine. Gleb Karakolov, 35, is a captain in the Federal Guard Service, known as FGS or FSO, who fled Russia to safety via Istanbul.
Now, he has revealed in an interview that Putin is so paranoid about his personal safety, his assassination attempts and his health that he chooses to stay ‘in his bunker’ instead of making regular visits around the country like he used to. Krakolov added that the Russian tyrant is “deathly afraid” of Corona and has been isolated for the fourth year, and that he never uses a mobile phone for fear that the West will harm him – instead he takes special communication equipment with him.
The media outlet that revealed Karakolov’s testimony claims that the defector is the highest ranking so far from Putin’s security circle who has defected. The Daily Mail reports that the defense officer was responsible for the leaks about Putin’s armored train, which he uses on his increasingly rare trips around Russia for fear that his presidential plane might be shot down.
The leaks suggest that the train is camouflaged in gray and red to look like a regular Russian passenger train, making it visually like the rest. Putin’s paranoia is also expressed in the fact that he never uses a mobile phone. “I mean, in all my years of service, I never once saw him with a cell phone,” Krakolov said.
The Russian leader is so worried about the West that he takes special communication equipment with him on foreign trips to prevent his secret conversations from leaking. “He does not use the Internet or a mobile phone. He receives information only from his closest circle, which means that he lives in an information vacuum,” said Krakolov. This means that his knowledge of events is filtered through the secret services and what he watches on state-controlled Russian television.
He also said: “The president also has a phone box that we take on every trip.” This is a place from where conversations can be conducted with guaranteed confidentiality. “The cell is of course bulky. It is a cube about one and a half meters high. Inside there is a desk and a telephone, which you can use to talk without fearing that these conversations will be heard or read by foreign intelligence.” This box always travels abroad together with Putin’s nuclear suitcase, which he can use to launch a nuclear missile.”
Putin would often travel around Russia to strengthen his public image as a man of the people. However, since the corona and its invasion of Ukraine, the number of these trips has decreased. When he does travel, his trips are conducted very carefully, according to opposition sources, he employs a double.
It is not clear where the defector is now, but it is assumed that he is in the west. He issued an appeal to other officers to come forward with evidence against Putin to prove that he is a “war criminal”. Karakolov’s wife and daughter also escaped separately via Kazakhstan and Istanbul.