Putin travelling in £11million personal armoured train as he panics his plane could be shot down

Vladimir Putin has been travelling in an £11million specially designed armoured train across Russia as part of an attempt to heighten his security.

The Russian president instructed that secret railway tracks leading to secret stations be built for personal use, according to local media reports.

The train has been specially designed to pull the extra weight added onto the vehicle as a result of Putin’s specific demands.

It features a presidential carriage which includes a study and a bedroom.

It also features a whole carriage with communications equipment.

It is painted red and grey to make it blend in with trains used by the Russian public.

The President is believed to use the train to visit his many residences across Russia.
Reuters

The estimated cost of it all is around £11million, according to the Dossier Center investigative website.

When not in use, it is stored at the Kalanchyovskaya railway station, surrounded by barbed wire and CCTV cameras.

It is believed that Putin uses the train to travel between his vast number of mansions in Russia.

Satellite images show what appear to be a fenced off train station near one of his summer residences on the Black Sea coast.

Other images show a similar looking station near another of his residences Novo-Ogaryovo outside Moscow.

The Russian president uses the train instead of other means of transport as he believes it is harder to track and less likely to be shot down.

A source close to the Kremlin said: “After the outbreak of the war, in February and March (last year), he began to use the [armoured] train very actively, especially to get to his residence in Valday.”

Proekt news reporters were told to leave by guards after approaching one of the multiple residencies used by Putin.

The company who owns the train has been linked in the past to one of Putin’s allies, Yury Kovalchuk, who the Dossier Centre says also manages his properties.

Satellite images show a number of what appear to be closed off train stations.
Reuters

It comes as Putin’s concerns grow over a potential coup.

He began pulling Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries out of Ukraine in recent days in an attempt to stem the growing popularity of its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin has publicly insulted Russia's top military brass, tried to parlay battlefield success into Kremlin favour, and detailed his recruitment of tens of thousands of convicts for his private army.

His hardline approach has raised suspicions that he may be gearing up for a political career.