Inside Putin's Lavish Armored Train

A new report from an investigative website gives a look inside Russian President Vladimir Putin's reported favorite way to travel: his private, heavily armored train.

The train contains a gym, a bar and even a cosmetologist's office, according to the Dossier Center's report. The price tag for all of this luxury was reportedly 6.8 billion rubles.

Earlier this year, independent media reported that Putin began traveling more frequently on a private train for his personal security following the start of his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Some reports said he had also built stations built exclusively for his train. Newsweek has not been able to independently verify any of the reports regarding Putin's supposed train.

The new, extensive look inside Putin's private train came from work done by the Dossier Center in conjunction with CNN, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the German broadcasters Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Norddeutscher Rundfunk. For its report, Dossier studied documents from Russia's Federal Guard Service (FSO), Russian Railways and other government-related sources.

A company called Zircon Service reportedly serves the train, which is also said to contain a hammam (Turkish steam bath), dining areas and a cinema. Also on board is equipment for life-saving emergencies, such as a ventilator and defibrillator. An infusion unit allows one to measure and inject the exact dosage of a drug for a patient.

An office is designed to soundproof conversations and is equipped with modern equipment. Throughout the train, phones and internet service are protected by encryption hardware.

Televisions on the train presented a problem, according to the report. Signals would be lost during passes through tunnels or under bridges. To remedy this, a special buffering system was created that downloads the signal before it is transmitted to a screen, so Putin does not have to wait for pictures to download.

Zircon Service is reportedly working on more cars for the train, including a "car room with a multimedia center" and another sports and recreation car.

The Dossier Center said the Kremlin responded to CNN when contacted about the train by saying Putin does not have a sports and recreation car.

Journalist Scott Rose shared some images from the Dossier Center's story on his Twitter account.

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.

Journalist Ilia Rozhdestvenskii, who wrote the report for the Dossier Center, told Newsweek that she was "personally surprised that although Vladimir Putin needs the train to travel around Russia safely and secretly, it was security and secrecy that was neglected in the construction of the train."

"We discovered a complete list of the train's cars in the public domain. The armor on the train does not provide protection against serious threats; it only guards against gunfire," Rozhdestvenskii said. "Furthermore, the special communication systems installed inside the train are hopelessly outdated."

She added, "In other words, all secrecy and security were sacrificed in order to accommodate amenities like a cosmetologist's office and a hammam for Putin."

Newsweek reached out to the Kremlin via email for comment.

Update 07/06/23 10:05 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to include comment from Ilia Rozhdestvenskii.