The Kremlin has dramatically strengthened President Vladimir Putin’s personal security by installing surveillance systems in the homes of his closest aides, according to a European intelligence agency report obtained by CNN, as part of new measures taken following a wave of assassinations of senior Russian military officers and fears of a coup. According to the dossier, cooks, bodyguards and photographers who work with the president are also banned from using public transport.
Visitors to the Kremlin chief must be screened twice and those who work closely with him can only use mobile phones without internet access. Some of the measures were introduced in recent months following the killing of a top general in December, which sparked a dispute at the top of Russia’s security apparatus.
The measures suggest growing discontent within the Kremlin, which faces increasingly pressing problems both at home and abroad, including economic hardship, growing signs of dissent and setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russian security officials have reportedly dramatically reduced the number of places Putin regularly visits. He and his family have stopped traveling to their usual residences in the Moscow region and to Valdai, the president’s secluded summer residence located between St. Petersburg and the capital.