Photos of Vladimir Putin’s personal train, the so-called “ghost train,” leaked in early July. They reveal that this mode of transport, which the Kremlin chief used to cross the country, is equipped with many state-of-the-art devices. And some of them are quite surprising, reports CNN. Inside, for example, are devices designed to “slow down aging.”
A real fortress
This highly confidential information was obtained by the Dossier Centre, a London investigative team assisted by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian oil tycoon. They would come from an internal source of one of the companies that built the train. According to them, the “ghost train” would have cost $74 million (€66 million). Annual maintenance is estimated at $16 million.
If this 22-car train was the subject of such funding, it is because Vladimir Putin feels safe there. The Russian President would actually prefer the train to the plane because he found this system safer. His personal train has its own tracks and stations, while air travel can be tracked by radar. The train is also very safe inside: the doors and windows are bulletproof and several wagons are protected from bullets.
Massage parlor, restaurants, luxury rooms
The Russian head of state also has a high level of comfort in his “ghost train”. According to the photos, there is a fully equipped gym, massage parlors or even a radio frequency device for “skin tightening”. The President also has his own cinema, several dining cars and various high-end rooms at his disposal. The crew on board consists of twelve people in total.
The level of sophistication of this move was perceived by Abbas Gallyamov, a former close associate of Putin, as a symbol of a certain “political insecurity”. “He loses the war, loses in politics, loses popularity. […] He feels surrounded by enemies. And psychologically, he wants to feel protected from all of those things,” he said. Conversely, a Russian official denied our CNN colleagues the luxury of the train. “President Putin does not have such a means of transport,” he said.