putin increasingly uses armored train for security reasons - media
russian president vladimir putin has increasingly been using an armored train for long-distance trips to his residences since the spring of 2021.
This is stated in the investigation of the "Dossier" Center.
"In the fall of 2021, when the russian army began to actively prepare for the invasion of Ukraine, an armored train appeared to be putin's favorite type of transport. After the start of the war, he has been using it more and more often – especially to get to his favorite residence in Valdai," the "Dossier" Center writes.
It is reported that putin may have started favoring an armored train for security reasons. Unlike airplanes, it is more challenging to track a train because there are no services for tracking passenger trains in real time.
Also, the two residences of the president of the aggressor country are located on the Black Sea coast, where flights are restricted due to the war.
It is mentioned that the armored train has a train car with a bedroom and a study, a train car for accompanying personnel, and a rail car for special communications.
The armored train resembles an ordinary train, only instead of four axes, it has six axes; instead of one locomotive – it has several, and special pieces of equipment are placed on the roof.
Journalists found out that the special train matching the description belongs to the Grand Service Express company, which was owned by an offshore company connected with the associate of russian federation president Yuriy Kovalchuk and businessman Mikhail Rabinovych, who is believed to be a good acquaintance of Kovalchuk.
putin was photographed in an armored train only once – in 2012 before it was repaired. Photographs of the external side of the train have never been officially published.
The journalists also calculated the approximate cost of the armored train. According to their estimates, it can cost a little more than 1 billion russian rubles.
