Leaked images reportedly show lavish interior of Vladimir Putin's 'ghost train'

Jun 25, 2023

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Newly released images have offered a glimpse of the lavish interior of the 22-car “ghost train” Russian president Vladimir Putin uses to traverse his country in comfort and secrecy.

The train’s features include a fully equipped gym or “sports-health wagon,” a skincare and massage parlor with “anti-aging machines,” a tiled and fully-equipped Turkish bath steam room, along with lush bedrooms and ornate dining cars.

There is also a movie theater, several cars filled with communications systems that allow Putin to remain connected to and informed about the outside world at all times, and an entire car housing a diesel power generator.

The train is heavily armored, the doors and windows throughout are bulletproof, and it is stocked with life-saving medical equipment and facilities.

Details about the train were leaked by the Dossier Center, a London-based group backed by Kremlin critic and exiled Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which is dedicated to investigating the inner-workings of Russia, according to CNN.

The Dossier Center said it obtained the inside information about the train from a source at the Russian company Zicron Service, which the state-operated railway company Russian Railways hired to outfit a train for use by the president of Russia.

Production costs for the train ran the Russian people about $74 million, with annual upkeeps running around $15.8million, according to the Dossier Center.

Putin’s extensive train-usage has long been a matter of public record, with the Kremlin itself previously releasing images of him conducting state meetings in lavishly gilded rooms.

The Kremlin, however, denied that the images and details in the Dossier Center’s findings were from Putin’s train.

“President Putin does not have such a car in his use or in his ownership,” Russian officials told CNN.

Amateur train spotters in Russia have long-suspected and documented the existence of Putin’s ghost train.

Taking to blogs, hobbyists have repeatedly reported seeing a train speeding down Russian tracks that wasn’t listed on any timetables or logged in any official railway databases.

That train was always pulling a car capped with a characteristic white-dome, which reportedly contains the antennae and satellite nodes that keep Putin’s elaborate communications array connected.

Insiders say Putin prefers to travel by rail instead of air because of the secrecy and security provided by remaining on the ground.

“The plane, as soon as it takes off, it immediately crosses flight radar,” Gleb Karakulov, a former member of the Federal Security Service which is tasked with keeping Russia’s president safe, told the Dossier Center.

“The train, it is used in order to somehow hide these movements.”

The train was reportedly first commissioned in 2014, and saw a considerable increase in usage as the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolded in 2022.

Dozens of crew members are on call around the clock to operate the train, Karakulov said, with each of them waiting in quarantine so Putin can remain safe from illness while on board.

“Our employees were in quarantine specifically for this special train,” Karakulov said. “Since the beginning of the war, guys said that they left to somewhere in the direction of Valdai for 40 or even 45 days.”

Previous reports from the Russian outlet Proekt said an entire rail line was built throughout Russia connecting Putin’s numerous private residences to main rail arteries, along with secret stations that only his train had access to.