Gleb Karakulov, a Russian defector, called the Russian president a “war criminal” and claimed that paranoid Vladimir Putin hides “in his bunker” out of fear of assassination attempts.

Who is Gleb Karakulov?

Gleb Karakulov, born in 1988, is a captain in the Federal Guard Service, also known as the FGS or FSO, and previously worked as a protection officer for Russia’s president.

Karakulov fled to Istanbul on a business trip to Kazakhstan in October 2022, after accompanying President Vladamir Putin Putin on more than 180 trips over the previous 13 years.

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In 2023, Karakulov called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “paranoid war criminal.”

Karakulov’s wife and daughter also fled through Kazakhstan and Istanbul.

According to the former FSO officer, President Putin prefers to stay “in his bunker” rather than travel because he is terrified of an assassination attempt. The Russian president is also said to travel with a 2.5-meter-high box to prevent leaks and Western bugging of his secret meetings.

He added that staff members can only work in the same room as Putin after they have been in isolation for two weeks. Putin, he said, is isolating himself for the fourth year in a row out of dread of contracting Covid-19.

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President Putin does not use a mobile device or the internet, so Karakulov claims that his knowledge of current events is filtered through the secret services and what he sees on state-run Russian TV.

Speaking about the conflict in Ukraine, Karakulov urged soldiers to come forward with information that would prove Putin to be a “war criminal,” claiming that the conflict is “beyond the pale” and “defies reason.”

The former FSO officer claimed to be unaware of Putin’s alleged relationship with gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 39, and their young children, but he did confirm that the Russian leader owns the £1 billion cliff-top palace at Gelendzhik on the Black Sea and the private yacht Scheherazade, as previously reported by Russia’s independent media.

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In response to rumors that the Russian leader is terminally ill, Karakulov said he is not aware of any reliable information that Putin has cancer or has had cancer in the past and claimed that his coworkers do not talk about it.