Media: Putin has boarded an armoured train worth a billion Russian rubles

The Dossier Centre's investigation reports:

In the autumn of 2021, as the Russian army began active preparations for an invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin switched to an armoured train. Since the war began, he has been riding it more frequently - especially to his favourite residence in Valdai.

Journalists speculate that Putin may have started travelling more by armoured train for security reasons. Unlike aeroplanes, the train is harder to track because there are no real-time tracking services for passenger trains.

Also, the two residences the aggressor country's president visits are on the Black Sea coast, where flights are restricted because of the war.

Putin's train has four locomotives and 11 carriages, some of them equipped with special communications. Externally, the train is no different from standard Russian Railways carriages and locomotives - it has distinctive grey and red stripes.

Journalists found out that a fitting description of the special train belongs to Grand Service Express, a company owned by an offshore company linked to an associate of Russian President Yury Kovalchuk and businessman Mikhail Rabinovich, described as a good acquaintance of Kovalchuk. Putin was photographed in the armoured train only once - in 2012, before its repair. Photos of the train outside have never been officially published.