Journey inside Putin’s armored train: beauty salon, anti-aging machines and gym

Russian President Vladimir Putin travels across Russia in an armored train equipped with a suite of high-tech beauty gadgets, anti-aging machines and a gym.

This was revealed by a joint investigation into the Records Center , CNN, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Norddeutscher Rundfunk on Wednesday. The Dossier Center, a website that tracks the activity of people linked to the Kremlin, is backed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oil magnate in exile who became a fierce critic of Moscow.

The leaked documents are believed to be from a member of Zircon Service, a Russian company under contract with state-owned rail operator Russian Railways.

The media cited intelligence documents, interviews with former officials and at least 25,500 internal documents belonging to Zircon Service, the company that has served the train for decades.

The train cost taxpayers at least 6.8 billion rubles ($74 million), according to the report, adding that maintenance costs about 1.45 billion rubles ($15.8 million) a year.

The train is made up of 22 cars, although not all of them are always used at the same time, according to the survey. Eight of them are technical wagons, housing communication centers, satellite equipment and a diesel power plant.

The other cars are equipped with restaurants, a cinema and a luxurious dining room, as well as a Turkish bath and a beauty salon, soundproofed, offering everything from “anti-aging machines” to “the firming emulsion” and “cherry blossom,” according to reports. There’s an ultrasound therapy device and a vacuum suction machine that helps with lymphatic drainage, a form of gentle massage.

A specific order was given for this room to be soundproofed and protected from the outside, in order to protect the president against eavesdropping or spies.

The cars are protected by armor capable of stopping sniper rifle bullets, there is a private gym, a beautician’s studio, a medical suite and a bar, the photographs and plans reveal.

The gym is equipped with a bench press, a hyperextension machine and dumbbells weighing up to eight kilograms, according to the report.

Putin’s security team, the Presidential Security Service (SBP), also specifically requested that the gym include exercise equipment to “train thigh muscles”, the report added.

Russia’s Zircon Service, the company that makes the special cars, was ordered to build it in 2017. Zircon postponed existing contracts and had employees work seven days a week and on holidays to complete it, according to Researchers.

The red and gray train is now proudly featured on the cover of Zircon Service’s marketing brochure.

The investigation noted that Putin had been traveling more by train since the start of the war in Ukraine, allegedly out of fear that his private plane might be shot down.

The Russian leader, who is said to be particularly concerned about his health, also travels with various lifesaving equipment in a medical suite, including a ventilator and a defibrillator.

Putin also specifically requested a special communication system on his train, which allows him to watch uninterrupted television as he travels through the tunnels, according to the latest survey.

He is still in charge of dozens of employees who must self-quarantine before working on the train when Putin is present.

“People are always ready … so that they are already ‘clean’ and can go and see the president when he is on board,” said Gleb Karakulov, a former captain of the Federal Guard Service, a group responsible for protecting people. more senior Russian officials, he told the Dossier Center earlier this year.

The center said one of Putin’s customized cars, specially adapted for transporting luxury cars, was used by Russian Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, during his visit to Ukraine in 2010, taking two Cadillacs with him.