We knew the armored train of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator, now here is Vladimir Putin’s. According to a poll by Russian investigative outlet Dossier, founded by former oligarch-turned-adversary Mikhail Khodorkosky, the Kremlin lord would now mainly be traveling in a special train. Vladimir Putin even has his own train station in central Moscow.
According to research by “Dossier”, shortly before the start of the war in Ukraine at the end of the summer of 2021, Vladimir Putin began to prefer the train to the planes of the presidential squadron for his frequent trips to Russia, according to an acquaintance of the Russian President. “Train departures can be spontaneous and unannounced. In the early days of the war, in February and March, he began to use the train very actively, especially to travel to his residence in Valdai,” the source tells investigative media Dossier.
No outdoor shots
According to the survey, the special train is almost indistinguishable from other trains on Russian Railways. Its wagons are the same gray color with a red stripe. The existence of a presidential train was known, the Kremlin press service published some photos taken in it a few years ago. However, no photo of his outward appearance has ever been released.
However, there are some differences: it’s pulled by three locomotives, some wagons have higher roofs to hide antennas, and the wagons have more wheels to support the weight of the shield. To take this train discreetly, Vladimir Putin would have a private train station, an anonymous building in the center of Moscow, just behind the Leningrad train station. And probably, for reasons of discretion, he would use the train. Unlike airplanes, trains cannot be tracked with internet trackers.
A train with the same characteristics as that which could be used by Vladimir Putin. (railgallery.ru)
The special train belongs to the company Grand Service Express, founded in 2002. In 2019, the company became the sole operator of train connections to Crimea, in 2020 it was subject to US sanctions. According to the authors of the investigation, the company that owns the train is linked to the nephew of Yuri Kovalchuk, the majority shareholder of Rossiya Bank and a close friend of the president.
private station
The publication “Sota”, for its part, reported on a special station in Moscow, which could be used for the presidential armored train. The station appears in documents as the “Administrative Building of the Russian Railways”. The station existed in Soviet times, it was supposed to be renovated in 2011, but the works were not carried out.
In 2021 the station building was clad with panels and in January 2022 RemStroyServis, the company responsible for the renovation, published detailed photos of the station. This page has since been deleted, but photos of the station with reception, meeting room and “VIP room” remain in the web archive.