Inside Putin’s luxury armored train he uses to travel between palaces

New pictures show the inside of Vladimir Putin’s luxury armored ‘ghost’ train – which is fitted with medical suite and a beauty salon. Reports say the security-paranoid dictator is traveling more and more by rail during his war against Ukraine. But for Putin it is no ordinary train as he moves between his palaces which are carefully hidden from his long-suffering people.

His presidential carriages are fitted with a hammam with a ‘fancy shower’ which includes ‘aroma foam’ mode costing £3.75 million ($4.7 million), as well as a gym and a cosmetology salon, revealed the Dossier Centre, linked to opposition politician Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The train has Putin’s ‘anti-aging machines’ as well as a lung ventilator, defibrillator, and a patient monitor – ‘in other words – everything you need for a portable ER.’ It is all paid for by the Russian taxpayers who know nothing about it, says the report.

The armored train – currently undergoing a £60 million ($76.2 million) upgrade – cannot be tracked in the way his plane can, and from the outside it resembles other services used by his compatriots. Inside it is different. ‘It’s not a simple luxury, it’s a super luxury,’ said rail expert Dmitry. ‘A shower, a full-size toilet, a phone, a gigantic Panasonic TV, DVD, and VHS players — just to name a few.’

‘Everything is finished with natural wood, some State symbols are present. The armor doesn’t cover the whole train, but rather parts,’ said the report. ‘The armor is Level III+, which withstands shots from an AK-47 or an SVD rifle.’ The carriages also have loopholes for return fire. Some rooms are protected against eavesdropping. A cosmetology room has ‘hardware protection from the leakage of acoustic information.’ And the train has a dedicated secure phone line.

The upgraded version will include a train cinema and a new health carriage – perhaps an indication that Putin’s health is less than perfect. ‘There is a ghost train on the Russian railway,’ said Mikhail Korotkov, а photographer who emigrated under pressure from the security services. ‘It can’t be found in any timetables or public systems. Its windows are curtained, the locomotives have no numbers and identifications… All the other regular trains move out of the way for it. It has a Grand Service Express logo on the sides, and the plates always show the same route: Yevpatoria – St. Petersburg.’

Putin is known as ‘The Chief Passenger’ on a train which can deliver him to his Valdai Palace which he shares with lover Alina Kabaeva, or his Black Sea cliff top £1 billion ($1.2 billion) Gelendzhik retreat. Both are equipped with nuclear bunkers. Special stations have been built for key Putin locations including his main Moscow region residence Novo-Ogaryovo. The Dossier Centre researchers sifted through 25,000 pages of documentation to establish links to the construction of the train and its maintenance.

It travels at 100mph – not faster due to the weight of its armor. Some carriages weigh 100 tons. The upgraded version is expected to be speedier, up to 124mph. ‘Any plane can be tracked,’ said the report. ‘Or you can use an armored train. And, as the Dossier Center found out, it’s not only safer but also way more comfortable. Now we know what’s inside an actual presidential train.’

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