From the outside, the machine looks like a commercial train, all that is most common in Russia. A red stripe splits the gray bodywork, which itself has a standardized shape and dimensions. Except that some cars benefit from heavy armor – an option not available to ordinary mortals, even in Russia. And, inside these, a privileged few have been able to find a leader anxious to protect his movements, since he has been waging a war with global intricacies: Vladimir Putin.
According to Russian investigative media Case, founded by the former oligarch who became an opponent of the regime, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin would have got into the habit of moving around in this strange carriage, since the preparations for the invasion of Ukraine , during the summer of 2021. Unlike those in planes, the movements of the trains are not monitored and disseminated publicly. What to confuse the tracks, while his country is the target of significant Western sanctions, and that the Russian leader is accused of war crime, by part of the international community.
One instruction: never stop
The existence of this train has never been concealed by the Kremlin. Some newspapers subservient to the government described meetings there. But no photographs of the outside of the train have been released. Only a photograph dating from 2012 shows Vladimir Putin in one of the living rooms of one of these vehicles of this type. According to the source interviewed by Dossier, close to the head of state according to her, the tenant of the Kremlin would prefer this means of transport to get to his palace in Valdai, since the war. With instructions to drive at maximum speed, and not to stop. Putin’s train has absolute priority on the tracks.
According to Dossier, certain elements could however make it possible to betray the machine. It would require three locomotives placed end to end to pull it, because of the weight of its armor. “The Head of State’s train still differs from an ordinary passenger train, since special communications radio antennas are visible on the roofs of several cars. The antennas are covered with boxes, this hides them from prying eyes” , specifies the information site. A means of travel also favored by… Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, underline several Russian opposition media.
Another clarification, the company that owns the train, Grand Service Express, is linked to the nephew of Yuri Kovaltchouk, considered to be one of the members of the first circle around Vladimir Putin, and majority owner of the Rossiya bank. Grand Service Express is the only company to operate in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula occupied by Vladimir Putin since 2014.
According to another publication opposed to the regime, “Sota”, a special station has even been reserved for Vladimir Putin, to secure access to his presidential train. A station that dates back to the Soviet era. Photos of its layout were published by the company responsible for its renovation RemStroyServis, before being deleted, and show a meeting room and a VIP lounge, wooden door and glossy parquet.