Former safety guard’s defection opens a window on Putin’s Ukraine struggle

Russian President Vladimir Putin will get his data from intelligence reviews and doesn’t use a handheld system for communications, in response to a former Federal Guard Service engineer who lately defected from Russia.

Gleb Karakulov informed a Russian dissident group that he left the president’s secret service due to his opposition to the struggle in Ukraine Mr. Putin launched in February 2022.

“The Russian president is a war criminal,” Mr. Karakulov mentioned in an interview the Dossier Center, a gaggle affiliated with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled opponent of Mr. Putin.

It couldn’t be discovered the place Mr. Karakulov is now positioned, or which overseas authorities has given him refuge. A U.S. official with entry to intelligence declined to touch upon the defector, and The Dossier Center didn’t reply to a request for details about Mr. Karakulov.

But a Russian official in his place would virtually definitely have entry to invaluable insider intelligence on the strategies utilized by Russian leaders to speak, in addition to Mr. Putin’s private safety.

The defector labored till mid-October 2022 as a captain within the presidential communications directorate of the guard service. His work concerned organising and encrypting communications hyperlinks utilized by Mr. Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Mr. Karakulov fled the guard service throughout a visit to Astana, Kazakhstan together with his spouse and daughter. The household flew by business airliner to Istanbul.

Dossier Center analysts spent 10 hours of conversations with Mr. Karakulov and posted an hourlong interview with him on the middle’s web site. Most of the interview centered on the defector’s disenchantment with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and his escape from the service.

Mr. Karakulov additionally offered new insights into how Mr. Putin retains in contact with aides and allies and his journey and safety, in addition to his private life.

Russian intelligence, which is believed to have poisoned defector Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and tried to kill former Russian navy intelligence agent Sergei Skirpal 12 years later, has a historical past of going after those that depart the fold for the West.

Mr. Karakulov mentioned he’s involved about his private safety and fears related retaliation by Russian intelligence.

“They are not running after me with Novichok yet,” he mentioned, “however they’ve already gone to see my family, and I believe that the explanation for this sluggish curiosity in me is that they assume: ‘There are plenty more of such engineers, one more, one less — Who cares?’

Novichok is the nerve agent used within the tried assassination of the Skirpals, and in a separate assassination try towards imprisoned Russian political opposition chief Alexei Navalny.

Sensitive particulars

Mr. Karakulov additionally disclosed delicate particulars of the Federal Guard Service strategies used to guard Mr. Putin, together with technicians who defend his video conferences, particular cooks who cook dinner his meals, and inspectors who run a “Biological Safety Center” answerable for meals security.

Mr. Putin additionally makes use of “bomb shelters” — underground bunkers at his residences and at Russian embassies — on his travels past the Kremlin’s partitions.

“It is a kind of paranoia,” Mr. Karakulov mentioned. “What else is a bomb shelter for? I take it that, yes, he’s simply afraid.”

All Mr. Putin’s places of work are outfitted with an identical furnishings and tools and he favors the one positioned at Valdai, about 250 miles northeast of Moscow. Other presidential places of work are positioned close to Moscow in Novo-Ogaryovo, and in St. Petersburg and Sochi.

Mr. Putin additionally is understood to masks his journey by sending off official-looking motorcade and plane.

“This is a ruse to confuse foreign intelligence, in the first place, and secondly, to prevent any attempts on his life,” Mr. Karakulov mentioned.

Mr. Karakulov mentioned his work concerned putting in safe communications in jets, helicopters, yachts and a particular prepare utilized by Mr. Putin for covert journey.

“It’s a train for the president,” he mentioned. “It first appeared in our schedule at some point in 2014 or 2015. It looks like an ordinary train, i.e., same as all the other Russian railways trains – grey with a red stripe. … It’s done for stealth purposes.”

Train journey is much less conspicuous as a result of plane are simply tracked by overseas spy providers and Mr. Putin has elevated prepare journey for the reason that Ukraine struggle, he mentioned.

Mr. Putin additionally employs a safe phone sales space for communications to keep away from digital interception of his talks.

The Russian chief is at all times surrounded by safety personnel answerable for defending him and is understood by guards as “The Boss,” he mentioned.

Mr. Putin has an assistant who travels with him who oversees monitoring the web, dealing with a laptop computer pc and entry to communications networks, he mentioned. The Russian chief, it seems, is one thing of a technophobe.

“[Putin] doesn’t use the internet or a mobile phone. He only receives information from his closest circle, which means that he lives in an information vacuum,” Mr. Karakulov mentioned. Most of his data on the struggle and the skin world is provided in secret intelligence reviews.

Mr. Putin additionally watches Russian tv and requires entry to Moscow TV channels every time he travels. To keep away from an infection, all guards and officers who work together with Mr. Putin should bear a strict two-week interval of quarantine.

Russian presidential guards, the defector revealed, additionally function their very own firefighter service.

“Absolutely all aspects of the president’s work as the highest government official, are the responsibility of the FGS,” he mentioned, utilizing the acronym for the guard service.

The non-public Putin

Addressing Western reviews that Mr. Putin is terminally unwell and has an exaggerated worry of illnesses corresponding to COVID-19, Mr. Karakulov mentioned Mr. Putin, 70, seems to be in good well being, aside from issues associated to his age, he mentioned.

Mr. Putin additionally has two daughters who’re protected by the FGS and dwell in the identical residence because the Russian chief, who is claimed to be at present cohabiting with a long-time mistress Alina Kabaeva, Mr. Karakulov mentioned. Mr. Putin additionally has a daughter from his relationship with one other mistress, Svetlana Krivonogikh, he mentioned.

The Russian chief additionally has lavish residences, certainly one of which was described by Mr. Karakulov as a “palace,” in St. Petersburg and Sochi.

Mr. Putin additionally owns a 459-foot yacht named Scheherazade, Mr. Karakulov mentioned, confirming reviews of each the residences and yacht that had been first disclosed by Russian opposition chief Mr. Navalny.

The president makes use of about 20 yachts, a few of that are owned privately and others which can be owned by Mr. Putin’s presidential workplace, he mentioned.

“These are well-furnished two- or three-deck yachts. Lavishly decorated,” Mr. Karakulov mentioned.

The defector mentioned Mr. Putin gave the impression to be a unique particular person from the person he knew in 2009, and the struggle in Ukraine has introduced much more character adjustments.

“These are two different people,” he mentioned. “Now he has shut himself off from the world with all kinds of barriers, the quarantine, the information vacuum. His take on reality has become distorted. A sane person in the 21st century, who looks objectively at everything happening in the world, let alone who can predict developments, at least in the medium term, would not have allowed this [Ukraine] war to happen.”

Mr. Putin, he mentioned, has misplaced contact with the world and resides in an data cocoon.

Mr. Karakulov ended the interview by urging his fellow FSG officers to disclose extra inside details about Russia’s chief.

“Come forward, support me [with more evidence]. You will help our citizens to learn the truth,” he mentioned. “Invasion of the territory of a sovereign state is simply beyond comprehension.”

Mr. Karakulov mentioned he anticipated to face accusations of being unpatriotic for his defection, however argued the cost is misplaced.