An intelligence report from an EU country - it is not clear which one - has been leaked to three news media outlets: Russian iStories (Vazjnye Istorii), American CNN and British Financial Times.
It says that security around Vladimir Putin has been tightened considerably since the turn of the year. It says that Putin himself fears that someone in the upper echelons of power will try to assassinate him using drones.
Anyone who meets Putin is reportedly required to undergo double security checks. Employees in his vicinity are reportedly not allowed to use networked phones or to travel by public transport. Some are said to have had surveillance cameras installed in their homes.
Meeting after assassination
The report details tensions within Russia's upper echelons of power. It says that several of the country's top security officials met on Christmas Day last year - three days after a Russian general was killed by a car bomb in central Moscow.
There, the chief of the military's general staff, Valery Gerasimov, is reported to have blamed the bombing on the FSB security service. The head of the FSB, Aleksandr Bortnikov, is reported to have complained about a lack of resources. President Putin is reported to have placed ten generals under constant surveillance.
The media outlets publishing the information claim to have been able to corroborate parts of it - such as Putin’s growing fear of being assassinated - through other sources. iStories has an FSB source who says that surveillance is increasingly targeting government officials. And this year, Putin has not visited military bases close to the front, as he has done in the past.
Directed at Putin?
Other details - such as Putin staying in bunkers for weeks at a time and the fact that the deposed former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is a possible coup plotter - are all the more questioned.
The media that received the information also ask open questions about why it was leaked: The purpose may be to intimidate or sow division - but in that case, why reveal the threats and risk their sources?
Meduza news site commentator Andrei Pertsev is skeptical about the coup reports, at least when they become public in this way. In
with iStories editor-in-chief Roman Anin, he nevertheless interprets the leak as a message to Vladimir Putin."Your throne is slipping away," they tell him. "You know why. Stop fighting," Pertsev says.
Anin believes that it could be a kind of signal to the Russian president: Step back while you still have the chance.
Vladimir Putin is surrounded by loyalists. There are long-time friends and “siloviki” - leaders from the often violent security apparatus - as well as others who are entrusted with running the war machine and protecting power:
Nikolai Patrushev: Special presidential advisor with great strategic influence. Succeeded Putin as head of the KGB's successor, the FSB.
Aleksandr Bortnikov: Longtime friend of Putin who has been head of the FSB since 2008.
Viktor Zolotov: Originally Putin's bodyguard. Leads the militarily equipped National Guard that reports to the president.
Andrei Belousov: Bureaucrat and Minister of Defense. Came in from the sidelines to run the war economy after Sergei Shoigu was sidelined.
Alexey Dyumin: Also a former bodyguard to Putin. He is climbing into positions of power as one of the president's closest confidants. He is leading the country's governors in the State Council.
Dmitry Kochnev: Putin's "gatekeeper" as head of the FSO security service. The FSO also monitors other parts of the security apparatus.
