The armored train of Russian President Vladimir Putin has become a headache for Russian railway passengers, writes the independent publication The Moscow Times.

On Friday evening, a special train blocked traffic on one of the busiest routes of the capital’s railway hub – Moskovsko-Tverskaya.

All trains that were supposed to run there were stopped to let the special train pass.

Traffic was restored approximately 30 minutes later. The Moscow-Tver suburban passenger company confirmed the delay of trains. The cause was a special train, writes the Telegram channel “Eden por Moskvy”.

Sergei Markov, a political scientist and former ideologue of the Kremlin-friendly United Russia party, notes that Putin is rumored to have decided to try a special train to travel to his Valdai residence. There, he will finish preparing his speech before the Federal Assembly, scheduled for February 21.

The transporters are apparently unhappy that Putin’s armored train is disrupting the schedule and leaking information about its movement, says Markov.

Putin’s armored train

The independent Dossier media center reported that Putin actively uses an armored train to travel within the country, citing a source close to the president, as well as sources close to his administration.

The armored sleeper and service train was developed back in 2014-2015, but did not attract much interest from Putin until the Kremlin began to prepare for the invasion of Ukraine.

The head of the Kremlin began regularly traveling by armored train in the second half of 2021, when the Russian military massed on the Ukrainian border.

Putin’s desire to use an armored train is dictated by the interest in maintaining secrecy: the movement of planes can be tracked by numerous open services on the Internet, while there is no such mechanism for trains.

The Russian Railways should adjust its schedule for Putin so that the train runs at full speed and without stops.

How much would Putin’s armored train cost?

According to their data, Putin’s armored train costs about 1 billion Russian rubles (about 13.6 million dollars at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation).

An acquaintance of the Russian president, who was contacted by the journalists of the Dossier Center, could not confirm that the Grand Service Express train discovered by the publication was Putin’s armored train. However, she could not help but notice the special communication antennas and the unusual carriage without windows in the center of the scenery. But a source close to Putin’s entourage said that the train resembles the one the Russian president used to ride, reports The Moscow Times.

Putin’s speech

Sources in the Kremlin’s presidential administration told The Moscow Times that Vladimir Putin may propose changing the status of the military campaign in Ukraine during a speech on February 21.

Instead of a “special military operation” with an unclear legal status, Putin could declare it an “anti-terrorist operation,” as described in Russian law, according to sources working in the presidential administration cited by The Moscow Times.

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