The Kremlin has dramatically increased the personal security around President Vladimir Putin, installing surveillance systems in the homes of close staffers as part of new measures prompted by a wave of assassinations of top Russian military figures and fears of a coup, according to a report from a European intelligence agency obtained by CNN.
Cooks, bodyguards and photographers who work with the president are also banned from traveling on public transport, the dossier says. Visitors to the Kremlin chief must be screened twice, and those working close to him can only use phones without internet access, it adds.
Some of the measures were put in place in recent months in the wake of the killing of a top general in December, which sparked a dispute in the top ranks of Russia’s security establishment, the report says. They suggest mounting unease within the Kremlin as it faces growing problems at home and abroad, including economic woes, increasing signs of dissent and setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russian security officials have drastically reduced the number of locations that Putin regularly visits, the report says. He and his family have stopped going to their usual residences in the Moscow region and at Valdai, the president’s secluded summer property which lies between St. Petersburg and the capital.
He has not visited a military facility this year so far, the report says, despite regular trips in 2025. To get around these restrictions, the Kremlin releases pre-recorded images of him to the public, the report adds.
Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin also spends weeks at a time in upgraded bunkers, often in Krasnodar, a coastal region bordering the Black Sea hours away from Moscow, the report says.
The dossier, released to CNN and other media outlets by a source close to a European intelligence agency, comes at a time of a growing perceived crisis around the Kremlin, four years into its brutal and ill-fated war.
Russian losses, estimated by western nations, of around 30,000 dead and injured each month, coupled with limited territorial gains on the frontline, and repeated drone attacks by Ukraine deep inside Russia, have taken the toll of the conflict to a level many believe is unsustainable.
The economic cost of the war is now palpable – with cell-phone data outages that regularly blight major cities angering even the pro-Putin bourgeoisie – adding to a sense of the war beginning to hit the urban elite, who until now were mostly isolated from the invasion’s impact.
The report provides rare detail of Moscow’s concerns over deteriorating internal security. It also outlines potentially embarrassing details of a blowup in the Russian security and military command over who was responsible for the protection of top brass – something it says prompted the review of Putin’s protocols and the extension of a higher level of personal security to 10 more senior commanders.
The report says that, since the beginning of March 2026, the “Kremlin and Vladimir Putin himself have been concerned about potential leaks of sensitive information, as well as the risk of a plot or coup attempt targeting the Russian president. He is particularly wary of the use of drones for a possible assassination attempt by members of the Russian political elite.”
But the most striking conclusion concerns erstwhile Putin confidante, Sergei Shoigu.
The sidelined former defense minister, currently serving as secretary of the Security Council, “is associated with the risk of a coup, as he retains significant influence within the military high command”, the report says.
It adds the arrest of Shoigu’s former deputy and close associate, Ruslan Tsalikov, on March 5 is considered “a breach of the tacit protection agreements among elites, weakening Shoigu and increasing the likelihood that he himself could become the target of a judicial investigation.”
Russia’s investigative committee said in a March statement that Tsalikov had been arrested on charges related to embezzlement, money laundering and bribery. Reports of corruption in the military elite are frequent but have multiplied since the Ukraine invasion began.
The report does not provide evidence to support the claims against Shoigu, who was formerly seen as very close to Putin, and a bid to unseat the Russian president would mark a stark reversal in allegiance. Given its release may be aimed at destabilizing the Kremlin, it is notable that the European intelligence service would at the same time effectively forewarn the Kremlin of a possible coup.
Putin survived a previous coup attempt in June 2023, when mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin led a failed march on Moscow.
Internal disputes in the Moscow elite are often subject to heavy speculation but rarely exposed. And deep into the invasion of Ukraine, as US support for Kyiv dwindles, European intelligence agencies have significant motivation to suggest mounting strife and paranoia in the Kremlin.
The nature of such intelligence makes some of the details hard to verify. CNN has approached the Kremlin for comment.
Some of the security measures around Putin detailed have been reported previously, or were widely presumed to be the case, including the intensive body searches, the Kremlin’s avoidance of smartphones and restriction of the president’s movements. Putin is still regularly seen in public, this week meeting with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.
Putin began isolating himself during the Covid-19 pandemic, often sitting at the end of a long table from his high-profile guests, up until he ordered the February 2022 invasion. Reports have suggested he uses the same office setup in multiple locations from which to address his cabinet by video-link.
The details of new security measures come days after Moscow announced significant changes to its May 9 Red Square parade to commemorate victory over Nazi Germany. This year’s event – the fifth since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine – will take place without heavy weaponry, such as armor and missiles.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated the threat and recent success of longer-range Ukrainian strikes was one motivation.
“Against the backdrop of this terrorist threat,” he said, “of course, all measures are being taken to minimize the danger.” Previous parades have been a display of Kremlin military might, yet been reduced since the start of the Ukraine invasion, citing operational and security concerns.
The intelligence report suggested a heated exchange between top brass in a Kremlin meeting late last year with Putin partially sparked the new measures. After the assassination of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov in Moscow on December 22, 2025, presumably by Ukrainian agents, Putin summoned key security personnel three days later.
During the meeting, Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov criticized the Federal Security Service (FSB) head Alexander Bortnikov for failing to protect his officers, who in turn complained of a lack of resources and personnel to do the job, the report says. “Emphasizing the fear and demoralization this has caused among (military) personnel, Valeri Gerasimov strongly criticized his counterparts in the special services for their lack of foresight”, it says.
The intelligence report also says: “At the end of this tense meeting, Vladimir Putin called for calm, proposing an alternative working format and instructing participants to present concrete solutions to the issue within one week.” That quick solution involved Putin extending the reach of his own Federal Protection Service (FSO) – which at that time only protected Gerasimov in the military command – to provide security to 10 more senior commanders.
The report claims the enhancing of Putin’s own security measures came after this widening of the FSO’s remit.
It is rare for western intelligence agencies to leak detailed accounts of confidential deliberations by hostile actors, likely obtained from human or electronic sources, both of which risk compromise if exposed. Yet its release may reflect a bid by European officials to seize upon a hope that critics have argued has long been their sole strategy to defeat Russia in Ukraine – to wait for its internal collapse.