By ERIKA KINETZ (Associated Press)
LONDON (AP) — On Oct. 14, a Russian engineer named Gleb Karakulov boarded a flight from Kazakhstan to Turkey along with his spouse and daughter. He switched off his telephone to close out the crescendo of pressing, enraged messages, mentioned goodbye to his life in Russia and tried to calm his fast-beating coronary heart.
But this was no unusual Russian defector. Karakulov was an officer in President Vladimir Putin’s secretive elite private safety service — one of many few Russians to flee and go public who’ve rank, in addition to data of intimate particulars of Putin’s life and probably categorised info.
Karakulov, who was answerable for safe communications, mentioned ethical opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his concern of dying there drove him to talk out, regardless of the dangers to himself and his household.
“Our president has become a war criminal,” he mentioned. “It’s time to end this war and stop being silent.”
Karakulov’s account typically conforms with others that paint the Russian president as a as soon as charismatic however more and more remoted chief, who doesn’t use a cellphone or the web and insists on entry to Russian state tv wherever he goes.
He additionally supplied new particulars about how Putin’s paranoia seems to have deepened since his determination to invade Ukraine in February 2022. Putin now prefers to keep away from airplanes and journey on a particular armored prepare, he mentioned, and he ordered a bunker on the Russian Embassy in Kazakhstan outfitted with a safe communications line in October — the primary time Karakulov had ever fielded such a request.
A defection like Karakulov’s “has a very great level of interest,” mentioned an official with a safety background from a NATO nation, who spoke on situation of anonymity to debate delicate political issues.
“That would be seen as a very serious blow to the president himself because he is extremely keen on his security, and his security is compromised,” he mentioned.
The Kremlin didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
As an engineer in a subject unit of the presidential communications division of the Federal Protective Service, or FSO, Karakulov was answerable for organising safe communications for the Russian president and prime minister wherever they went. While he was not a confidant of Putin’s, Karakulov spent years in his service, observing him from unusually shut quarters from 2009 by means of late 2022.
Karakulov, his spouse and his baby have gone underground, and it was inconceivable to talk with them immediately as a consequence of safety constraints.
The Dossier Center, a London-based investigative group funded by Russian opposition determine Mikhail Khodorkovsky, interviewed Karakulov a number of instances and shared video and transcripts of greater than six hours of these interviews with The Associated Press, in addition to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR, Swedish Television SVT, and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK.
The Dossier Center confirmed the authenticity of Karakulov’s passport and FSO work id card, and cross-checked particulars of his biography towards Russian authorities data, leaked private knowledge and social media postings, all of which the AP reviewed.
The AP additionally independently confirmed Karakulov’s id with three sources within the U.S. and Europe and corroborated his private particulars, together with passport numbers, date and hometown, two registered addresses, and the names and ages of relations. AP was unable to confirm all particulars of his defection.
AP additionally confirmed that Karakulov is listed as a wished man within the Russian Interior Ministry’s public database of legal suspects. The Interior Ministry initiated a legal investigation towards Karakulov on Oct. 26 for desertion throughout a time of army mobilization, in line with paperwork obtained by the Dossier Center and seen by the AP.
The FSO is likely one of the most secretive branches of Russia’s safety companies.
“Even when they quit, they never talk, but they know a lot of details of the private life of the president and the prime minister,” mentioned Katya Hakim, a senior researcher on the Dossier Center.
Karakulov moved as a part of an advance workforce, typically with sufficient specialised communications gear to fill a KAMAZ truck. He mentioned he has taken greater than 180 journeys with the Russian president, and opposite to widespread hypothesis, Putin seems to be in higher form than most individuals his age. Putin has solely canceled just a few journeys as a consequence of sickness, he mentioned.
Unlike the prime minister, Putin doesn’t require safe web entry on his journeys, Karakulov mentioned.
“I have never seen him with a mobile phone,” he mentioned. “All the information he receives is only from people close to him. That is, he lives in a kind of information vacuum.”
Karakulov’s work introduced him to luxurious inns for summits, seashore resorts in Cuba, yachts — and aboard a particular armored prepare outfitted for the Russian president.
Putin’s prepare seems like another, painted grey with a purple stripe to mix in with different railway carriages in Russia. Putin didn’t like the truth that airplanes will be tracked, preferring the stealth of a nondescript prepare automotive, Karakulov mentioned.
“I understand that he’s simply afraid,” he mentioned.
Putin started to make use of the prepare often within the run-up to the February 2022 invasion, Karakulov mentioned. Even final 12 months, Putin continued to insist on strict anti-COVID measures, and FSO staff took shifts in two-week quarantine so there would all the time be a pool of individuals cleared to journey with Putin on the prepare, he mentioned.
Putin has arrange an identical places of work in a number of areas, with matching particulars right down to the desk and wall hangings, and official reviews generally say he’s one place when he’s truly in one other, in line with Karakulov and prior reporting by a Russian media outlet.
When Putin was in Sochi, safety officers would intentionally fake he was leaving, bringing in a aircraft and sending off a motorcade, when he was actually staying, Karakulov mentioned.
“I think that this is an attempt to confuse, first, intelligence, and second, so that there are no assassination attempts,” he mentioned.
Karakulov’s defection was a shocking flip for a household steeped in patriotic army custom. Karakulov’s father is a former army man, and his brother is a neighborhood authorities official.
Karakulov mentioned he couldn’t inform his dad and mom about his disillusionment, as a result of their minds had been molded by years of watching Russian state tv. So he by no means advised them he was leaving.
But he denies that he’s unpatriotic and urged others to interrupt their silence to cease the conflict.
“Patriotism is when you love your country,” he mentioned. “In this case, our homeland needs to be saved because something crazy and terrible is happening.”
___
Associated Press reporters Aamer Madhani in Washington, Jamey Keaton in Geneva and Joanna Kozlowska in London contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”