Paranoid security guards guarding Vladimir Putin will disable mobile internet coverage in St Petersburg when the dictator delivers a speech in the city today.
They fear the signals could be used to direct drones in assassination strikes on the warmonger, as has become a common tactic in Ukraine and – more recently – in cross-border attacks in Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Communications has issued a deactivation order to all mobile operators, according to sources from the Faridaily media outlet run by journalist Farida Rustamova.
The move was aimed “to prevent drones from attacking the venue of the forum during the plenary session of Putin’s traditional event” – the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, considered Russia’s equivalent of Davos.
Ukraine has launched several drone strikes on Russia in retaliation for endless missile attacks by Putin’s forces.
Paranoid security guards guarding Vladimir Putin (pictured on Thursday) will disable mobile internet coverage in St Petersburg when the dictator delivers a speech in the city today
The strikes that hit the Kremlin on May 3 were blamed on Ukraine by the Russians.
This was described by Moscow as an attempt “to assassinate Putin”.
And in late May, a drone strike approached Putin’s lavish official residence, Novo-Ogaryovo, near Moscow.
Footage showed sniffer dogs at the site today in St Petersburg, which is Putin’s hometown, amid a huge security crackdown.
Putin must make a “long speech” followed by a discussion.
“We can expect a very voluminous speech from the head of state,” said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
— Indeed, a fairly long speech has been prepared.
Most Western countries are boycotting the event, which in previous years involved prominent foreign visitors.
Putin’s planned appearance comes at a time when there are rumors that he is increasingly using a lookalike for public events due to security concerns or illness.
Swedish economist Anders Aslund – who has worked as an adviser to the Russian and Ukrainian governments, told Die Welt: ‘Putin doesn’t dare go out in public. Every time he appears, it is suspected that he is a doppelganger.
“Putin seems scared. He built bunkers in his three main residences. He travels the country in an armored train. And at each of his three primary residences, he built special stations for his personal security.
“The level of paranoia seems almost pathological.”
Russia and Ukraine have deployed drones to carry out precision strikes against enemy units. Small mobile devices are difficult to detect and can go far behind enemy lines while allowing their operators to stay out of the line of fire.
Both sides used consumer quad-copters to scout enemy positions and drop grenades on soldiers hiding in foxholes or in armored vehicles.
But consumer models tend to require an internet connection to operate, with operators using internet-connected devices and their GPS signals to maneuver them into positions.
They can also be used to guide other large munitions to their targets.
After the drone strike on the Kremlin in May, it was reported that Putin was afraid to travel abroad for fear of being assassinated.
The strikes that hit the Kremlin on May 3 (pictured) were blamed on Ukraine by the Russians
It also came after an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes in Ukraine, which requires any member state to detain Putin if he comes into contact with food on its territory.
There have also been rumors of a potential coup against him by Wagner Mercenary Group warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has become increasingly critical of the Russian military and its half-hearted efforts on the battlefield of Ukraine.
According to the Daily Beast, citing Russian independent newspaper Verstka, the Russian leader has grown increasingly fearful for his life in recent months.
The source said “behind the scenes at the Kremlin” that Putin was reluctant to travel anywhere and “had no sense of security”.
He did not travel to Turkey for President Recep Erdogan’s inauguration, nor will he attend an upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization in India in July.
Reports also suggest that Putin’s inner circle has become increasingly small since the start of the war in Ukraine, to the point that he refuses to listen to negative battlefield news from his generals.
Kiev’s counteroffensive is making steady progress on at least two fronts in Ukraine, with Ukraine’s military saying on Thursday it had regained control of more than 38 square miles of territory.
Russia’s progress, meanwhile, has stalled for months, with its military efforts focused more on maintaining its defensive positions.
According to Iuliia Osmolovska, director of the think tank GlobSec, Putin avoids any bad news from his army’s campaign and refuses to use the internet.
“As far as we know from reliable sources, Putin stopped receiving real and up-to-date information from the battlefield some time ago because he doesn’t want to hear bad news,” she said.
“Second, he doesn’t use the internet, so he has no other information to verify the news he hears,” she added.
Putin has shown signs of paranoia in the past. Weeks before launching his invasion of Ukraine, he was seen inside the Kremlin holding meetings with foreign dignitaries over a large table, with each party seated at opposite ends. Pictured: Putin (left) meets French President Emmanuel Macron in Moscow on February 7, 2022
Russia on Thursday announced plans to hold elections in occupied parts of Ukraine in just three months, Moscow’s latest attempt to signal that it controls the south and east of the country, even as the counter – Ukrainian offensive continues.
The Ukrainian assault is in its early stages and military experts say the decisive battles are yet to come. But the corpses of Russian soldiers and burnt-out armored vehicles lined the roads in villages recently retaken by Ukrainian troops bear witness to Kiev’s biggest advances since last year.
“Our heroic people, our troops on … the front line are facing very tough resistance,” Zelensky told NBC News in an interview in Kyiv. “Because for Russia to lose this campaign against Ukraine, I would say, actually means losing the war.”
Zelensky said the news from the front lines was “generally positive but it’s very difficult,” according to a partial transcript of the interview.
