New “evidence” has emerged that Vladimir Putin and his top commanders are waging the war in Ukraine from top-secret nuclear shelters.
Movements of planes used by senior Kremlin officials show Putin may be in hiding near Surgut in western Siberia, it is claimed.
According to investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, who has been mysteriously absent for several weeks, sparking rumors about his health condition, is said to be staying in a bunker near Ufa in the Urals, 725 miles east of Moscow.
That theory is supported by his daughter Ksenia Shoigu, 31, who visited Ufa – where she was pictured – for an estimated three days from March 22 amid widespread speculation that the defense minister had heart problems.
She also abruptly blocked public access to her Instagram, where she had posed with her baby in the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine.
The use of the high security bunkers – if confirmed – is alarming as it suggests that Putin may be preparing to use nuclear weapons, a move that would inevitably lead to reprisals.
Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shogi at the Victory Day Parade in Moscow in 2019. Both could now be waging the Ukraine war from bunkers, flight tracking information suggests
Investigative journalist Christo Grozev (pictured centre) believes there is sufficient evidence that Putin and his senior commanders are operating from bunkers in eastern Russia
Movements of planes used by senior Kremlin officials show Putin may be in hiding near Surgut in western Siberia, it is claimed. Meanwhile, his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who has been mysteriously absent for several weeks and has fueled rumors about his health, is said to be in a bunker near Ufa in the Urals
Putin officials warn he has the right to use devastating nuclear weapons
Vladimir Putin has the right to launch nuclear weapons if provoked by NATO over the invasion of the Kremlin in Ukraine, a Russian ambassador to the UN claimed last week.
Just hours after another Kremlin spokesman warned of a possible nuclear war, Dmitry Polyanskiy fueled further fears by suggesting there would be a seismic response to any direct Western involvement in the conflict.
“If Russia is provoked by NATO, if Russia is attacked by NATO… we are a nuclear power, why not?” he told Sky News at the UN in New York.
“I don’t think it’s the right thing to say. But it is wrong to threaten Russia and try to interfere.
“So when you’re dealing with a nuclear force, you obviously have to take into account all the possible consequences of your behavior.”
The top diplomat also continued to deny claims that Kremlin forces had committed war crimes and suggested that evidence of Russian missiles destroying Ukrainian cities was “fake news”.
“We have said from the beginning that our military poses no threat to the civilian population of Ukraine,” he added.
It came after Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov a day earlier also refused to rule out the use of nuclear weapons, claiming Russian doctrine allows the president to use such force to ward off an “existential threat”.
Peskov was asked three times on CNN if he could definitely rule out the possibility of the Russian leader pressing the button – and three times refused to give a straight answer.
Grozev – who has ties to the British investigative agency Bellingcat – said: “I am absolutely certain that Shoigu is in a bunker.
“If we follow the movement of his plane, we see very frequent flights to Ufa.
“If you know that there are also protected bunkers in this area, that’s an obvious indication of where you live.”
In an interview with Ukraine-24 channel, he told TV presenter Yevgeny Kiselyov: “This is our very reasonable version.
“I believe in it, and I think it’s a purely analytical conclusion. There can be no other conclusion.
“If the Kremlin’s war strategy assumes a nuclear strike – and it does – than [Dmitry] Peskov [Putin’s spokesman] even said a few days ago on CNN, then there can be no other version.
“If there is a decision about a possible nuclear strike, they cannot hide the military leadership afterwards.
“They must be hidden first.
“I am absolutely sure that he is in a so-called bunker, and by tracking the plane that he usually flies, we see very frequent, almost daily, flights to Ufa.
“Knowing that this region has these very protected bunkers leads us to the obvious conclusion. ‘
He believes that Putin has another bunker somewhere else.
“Most likely he is somewhere else because we see other flights and they are more secret than the flight to Ufa.
“These are state planes and they’re turning off their transponders somewhere in Surgut.”
This is Russia’s oil capital and is approximately 1,800 miles northeast of Moscow.
“It looks like the last phase is quite secret and most likely there is a more elite bunker with the government’s elite there.”
There have previously been claims that Putin has moved his close relatives to a bunker in the Altai Mountains, about 1,100 miles southeast of Surgut and 2,360 miles east of Moscow.
Grozev also hinted that Russia’s Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, was operating from a bunker.
Coincidentally, the daughter of Defense Minister Ksenia Shoigu seems to have been in Ufa between March 22-25.
According to investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured) – who has been mysteriously absent for several weeks, sparking rumors about his health condition – is said to be staying in a bunker near Ufa in the Urals, 725 miles east of Moscow
Movements of planes used by senior Kremlin officials show Putin may be in hiding near Surgut in western Siberia, it is claimed. (Pictured: Abandoned Soviet bunker in Surgut)
The Altayskoye Podvorie resort in the Altai Mountains, built by Gazprom. The resort reportedly contains one of Putin’s personal dachas
It has previously been claimed that Putin’s family was taken to a huge underground bunker buried in the Altai Mountains (Altayskoye Podvorie Resort pictured).
Coincidentally, the Defense Minister’s daughter, Ksenia Shoigu (pictured), appears to have been in Ufa between March 22 and 25, where her father is believed to be operating from a bunker
“Today we are on a working visit to Ufa,” she posted on March 22 on her Telegram channel.
Local newspapers reported that the financier was visiting “at the personal invitation of the regional director on March 24-25.”
She is President of the Russian Triathlon Federation and promotes a charity called Hero League.
She visited the Patriot military park under construction near Ufa.
One theory has it that in November or December 2020 Putin took time off during the pandemic when he visited Sarov and Laster Tobolsk – which is several hundred kilometers from Surgut – to inspect emergency bunkers.