Putin India Visit: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in New Delhi today on December 4, for a state visit to participate in the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. During his two-day stay in the national capital, Putin is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on regional and global issues of mutual concern.
This marks Putin’s first official visit to India since the Ukraine war began in February 2022. His last trip to New Delhi took place in December 2021.
Even as the Russian President resumes overseas travel, startling revelations continue to emerge about his lifestyle and access to information. A senior Russian intelligence officer who defected in 2023, claimed that Putin lives in what he described as an “information vacuum,” deliberately avoiding the use of mobile phones or the internet.
The claims were made by Gleb Karakulov, a former engineer and captain in the Presidential Communications Directorate of the Federal Guard Service. In an interview with the Dossier Center for Investigative Journalism, Karakulov said Putin relies solely on information provided by his closest aides and Russian state television channels.
Karakulov, whose work involved encrypting presidential communications, revealed he regularly accompanied Putin on foreign trips. According to him, the first such assignment was a business trip in October 2009. Since joining the Federal Guard Service, he said he had been on more than 180 trips with the Russian leader.
The former officer offered rare insights into Putin’s tightly controlled information environment.
“In all my years of service, I haven’t seen him once with a mobile phone,” Karakulov told the Dossier Center.
“He doesn’t use the internet or a mobile phone,” he added. “He only receives information from his closest circle, which means that he lives in an information vacuum.”
According to Karakulov, Putin’s primary sources of information are secret service intelligence assessments and Russian television news. “The President insists on having Russian television in every venue he stays in,” he said.
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
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