zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Beyond Cars
/
Putin's $74M Private Train 'Sacrificed' Security For Luxury Trimmings
Putin's $74M Private Train 'Sacrificed' Security For Luxury Trimmings-February 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:13:48

A photo of Vladimir Putin sat on a train.

We’re all used to seeing images of U.S. president Joe Biden , but we don’t often see him traveling the country by rail. It’s the same story for most world leaders, who to all manner of important meetings. But there is one leader that appears to prefer train travel, and that’s Russian leader Vladimir Putin who has reportedly taken to traveling Russia via private train following .

Since , the country’s leader has reportedly elected to travel between official meetings by train, rather than taking to the skies in a private jet. But Putin doesn’t hop aboard a Russian Railways passenger train. Instead, he has his own state-run private train, which reportedly cost Russia’s taxpayers more than $74 million.

Now, a new has uncovered details of what it’s like inside Putin’s private train, and it really is quite something. The train, which was reportedly purchased for 6.8 billion rubles, contains everything from a gym and Turkish steam bath, to a cinema and even a cosmetologist’s office.

, which is operated by a company called Zircon Service, also includes carriages filled with essential healthcare equipment, including a ventilator and defibrillator. The site explains:

“While the train is exclusively for Putin, the president doesn’t travel alone. ‘Dozens of employees’ from the FSO ‘are engaged in the train on a daily basis, who are responsible for the protection of the president and special communication,’ the Dossier Center wrote.

“To accommodate the needs of security staff, as well as possible Kremlin officials and private guests, the train has 22 cars in total, according to the report. However, it said only about 10 cars are usually used at a time.”

To uncover the secrets of Putin’s private train, CNN, the Dossier Center, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and the German broadcasters Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Norddeutscher Rundfunk trawled countless documents about its construction. The documents came from Russia’s Federal Guard Service (FSO), Russian Railways, and other government sources.

Through its investigations, the publications found that security and secrecy “was neglected in the construction of the train.”

“We discovered a complete list of the train’s cars in the public domain,” Ilia Rozhdestvenskii, a journalist who wrote the report for the Dossier Center, told Newsweek. “The armor on the train does not provide protection against serious threats; it only guards against gunfire.”

What’s more, the investigators found that the communication systems were “hopelessly outdated,” and that security had been “sacrificed” to make way for Putin’s creature comforts.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Beyond Cars
A New York Barge Pilot Smashed The Shuttle's Wing
A New York Barge Pilot Smashed The Shuttle's Wing
Jeezis. is why we can't have nice things. After the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise was into New York a bit over a month ago, yesterday it was just a touch less spectacularly through New York Harbor for temporary storage in New Jersey. There it will wait until its permanent home...
Feb 13, 2026
The Supercar’s New Clothes
The Supercar’s New Clothes
We love our supercars to death. We obsess over their top speeds and great power. But what is it like to actually use one? Over 500 miles of European motorway, we discover an inconvenient truth. The Apollo Command Module did not have a rear window. What the spacecraft had instead...
Feb 13, 2026
China's New Space Station Isn't Really A Space Station
China's New Space Station Isn't Really A Space Station
Sometime very soon, China will be launching three to their new space station, making them only the third country ever to accomplish such a feat. The station, Tiangong 1 (it means Heavenly Palace, which sounds like a place I have a take-out menu from) was launched back in late September...
Feb 13, 2026
NASA Has The Coolest Vending Machines In The World
NASA Has The Coolest Vending Machines In The World
NASA's held its annual open house earlier this month, and like any good space dork I was there. There, of course, was all manner of exciting and interesting stuff to see, tended by scientists who seemed genuinely surprised and delighted by the fact that so many locals want to come...
Feb 13, 2026
How They Carefully Lift The Space Shuttle
How They Carefully Lift The Space Shuttle
NASA is no longer flying space shuttles, but when the cameras turn away from the or flotillas the real heavy lifting begins. Massive cranes have to delicately lift the shuttle from place to place. Here's how they do it, complete with photos exclusive to Jalopnik online of Space Shuttles Enterprise...
Feb 13, 2026
Before It Came To New York, Space Shuttle Enterprise Flew Over The Roman Forum
Before It Came To New York, Space Shuttle Enterprise Flew Over The Roman Forum
These days, photos of Space Shuttles piggybacking on 747’s tend to signal . For Enterprise, the prototype Shuttle used by NASA to test the concept, one of those last trips came almost thirty years ago. After critical tests were completed Enterprise was retired then flown around the world to various...
Feb 13, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved