Putin Hiding As Attacks On Iran Leaders Fuel His Assassination Paranoia

The killings of Iran's top leaders have reportedly sparked Putin's and his security forces' fears that the instruments of repression they have used to control the Russian population - and that they shared with Iran - were hacked by the US and Israel, leading to the Iranians' deaths. 

As a result, the Kremlin has shut down internet services across a broad swath of Russia and Putin's whereabouts are unknown as he fears Ukraine could do the same to him. JL

Will Stewart and Ayeesha Walsh report in The Daily Express (US):

Vladimir Putin has dramatically escalated security following concerns that vulnerabilities in his protective network mirror those that preceded the assassination of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Reports indicate paranoia has gripped the Russian dictator's security establishment over worries his extensive electronic surveillance infrastructure contains weaknesses that could allow adversaries to track his whereabouts and enable an assassination attempt. This heightened anxiety is driving a shutdown of mobile internet across Moscow and other parts of Russia. Moscow and Tehran employed comparable surveillance and facial recognition systems. "Hacking and surveillance infrastructure to monitor citizens (can) help destroy heads of state. Nobody knows where Putin really is." 

Vladimir Putin has dramatically escalated security measures at the Kremlin following concerns that vulnerabilities in his protective network mirror those that preceded the assassination of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Reports indicate that paranoia has gripped the Russian dictator's security establishment over worries that his extensive electronic surveillance infrastructure contains weaknesses that could allow adversaries to track his whereabouts. 

Such security gaps could potentially enable an assassination attempt against the 73 year old Kremlin leader, officials fear. It comes after Donald Trump's strange reaction after discovering the new Supreme Leader's sexuality. 

Recent photographs reveal armed Federal Security Officers alongside vehicles equipped with electronic warfare systems designed to neutralize drones surrounding the Kremlin as part of the heightened security protocols. 

Guards are now conspicuously stationed even on Lenin's mausoleum in Red Square, according to VChK-OGPU, a channel with ties to the security services. 

This heightened anxiety is thought to be driving a massive shutdown of mobile internet across Moscow and other parts of Russia, effectively transporting the nation back to the pre-digital era. The unexplained disruption has triggered chaos, forcing businesses to shutter and leaving taxi drivers and delivery workers unable to navigate the city.

Ukraine has intensified drone strikes on Putin's capital in recent days, including overnight attacks, but the alarm gripping his security leadership stems from technological deficiencies within his surveillance state apparatus.

"This is connected with Iran, with what America and Israel are doing in Iran," expert commentator Vyacheslav Shiryaev told independent Republic journal. "Everything happening in Iran is tied to hacking infrastructure that is supposed to monitor citizens, but it turns out that this infrastructure helps destroy heads of state instead...." 

Shiryaev continued, "It is known that Israeli intelligence gained access to surveillance cameras in Tehran. That is precisely why the Kremlin is now tearing through the entire IT infrastructure, trying to understand where the vulnerability may be, how control over Putin's movements, his motorcades and everything else could be carried out through the very infrastructure they themselves built in Moscow in order to monitor citizens."

According to reports, Putin's own security service, the FSO, mandated the internet shutdown. Following Khamenei's assassination on February 28, "something went wrong" for the FSO - Federal Protective Service - and "they saw the vulnerabilities. Clearly they do not understand how to close those vulnerabilities without breaking everything they themselves need," Shiryaev said.

Moscow and Tehran employed comparable surveillance and facial recognition systems. When Putin's security apparatus recognized the weaknesses "touched on the security of the first person [Putin] - then suddenly everybody started moving". 

Shiryaev anticipated substantial economic harm to Russia's already-faltering economy, which remains entangled in a costly conflict with Ukraine. "The authorities are walking through a swamp, sinking, but still moving on and getting stuck even deeper," he said. "This is undermining the foundations of the [Putin] regime, and resources are dwindling." 

The internet blackout occurred "not Ukrainian drones and not cyberattacks, but the ruling elite's fear for its own safety," Republic reported. The Kremlin has remained evasive about the shutdown, which has triggered a surge in paper map sales and prompted Russians to resort to using outdated pagers. 

Putin's spokesman connected it to severe new legislation recently enacted by the Kremlin dictator. It was "related to the most important need-ensuring security", he said, without elaborating further. "As for Putin, I do not think he appears in Moscow at all" at present due to heightened security concerns, Shiryaev noted.

"Nobody knows where he really is." For the third consecutive day, dozens of Ukrainian drones were deployed toward Moscow, prompting a defensive response from the city's air defense systems. Ukraine also set ablaze the Labinsk oil refinery located in Russia's Krasnodar region. Russia was today launching missiles at the Kyiv region following attacks on civilians in Zaporizhzhia.