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☆ Kremlin’s security services were aware of ISIS threat to Russia before concert attack, new evidence from investigative body suggests
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Matthew Chance | Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Kremlin’s security services were aware of an ISIS threat days before a deadly attack on a concert hall near Moscow, Russian intelligence documents obtained by a UK-based investigative organization suggest. The Dossier Center is a Russian investigation group backed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled former Russian oil tycoon turned Kremlin critic. “Even before the attack on Crocus City Hall, a source close to the intelligence services told the Dossier Center about this,” it added. The following year, German police arrested several people from Tajikistan accused of plotting an attack on Cologne Cathedral, according to the Dossier Center. According to the Dossier Center, Russian law enforcement was monitoring all these reports and “considered the risk” to Russia.

Persons: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vladimir Putin, “, ”, Adrienne Watson, Putin, ” Putin, Ilya Ponomarev, CNN’s Erin Burnett Organizations: CNN, ISIS, Crocus City Hall, Security, Crocus City, Central, Embassy, National Security, Kremlin Locations: Moscow, London, Russia, Crocus, Russian, Tajikistan, Washington, United States, Ukraine, Kabul, Cologne, Kyrgyzstan

☆ Putin has a secret palatial home near Finland with yachts, 2 helipads, and a private waterfall: report
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewA secret palatial home belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been discovered in northern Russia, according to investigative outlet The Dossier Center. The Dossier Center posted a video on YouTube of what it claimed was drone footage of Putin's secret getaway. AdvertisementThe Center said the property is located on the shore of Lake Lagoda, part of a national park, and includes a picturesque waterfall. The report cited locals saying Putin visits the property once a year after making a trip to the nearby Valaam Monastery.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Putin, Yury Kovalchuk Organizations: Service, Business, YouTube, Center Locations: Russia, Marialakhti Bay, Karelia, Finland, Lake Lagoda, Valaam, Russian

☆ Russian opposition group report says it's identified another superyacht belonging to Vladimir Putin
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian military plant built Vladimir Putin a 71-meter superyacht, according to a new report. The report was written by the Dossier Center, a Russian opposition group funded by an exiled oligarch. AdvertisementVladimir Putin's newest known superyacht is 71 meters long, cost an estimated $50 million to build, and can carry up to 28 people, according to a new report from Russian opposition group the Dossier Center. Construction on the yacht began in 2005 at a Russian military facility that typically produces nuclear submarines, according to the report, citing unnamed sources close to Putin. Spokespeople for the Russian president and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, oligarch, Putin's, —, Vladimir, Putin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky –, Russia –, lina K Organizations: Dossier, Service, NATO, ust Locations: Russian, Victoria, Sochi, Istanbul, Russia

☆ Russia mistakenly doxed its own spies and secret bases by uploading their addresses on a public city hall website: investigative outlet
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia accidentally exposed the locations of its secret bases and spy homes, per the Dossier Center. AdvertisementAdvertisementMoscow's city hall accidentally leaked the addresses of government safehouses, undercover facilities, and the homes of state operatives, the Dossier Center reported on Monday. When Insider checked the Moscow city hall website on Monday, the document was no longer available online. In one case, the document even included the apartment numbers of two homes used by spies in Moscow, the Dossier Center reported. Many of these locations have already been identified as Russian intelligence facilities by investigative outlets such as Bellingcat, the Dossier Center noted.

Persons: —, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Sergey Sobyanin Organizations: Service, Federal Protective Service, Foreign Intelligence Service, Federal Security Service, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Moscow's, Russian, Moscow, Leningrad, Primorsky, St, Petersburg, Bryansk

☆ Putin doesn't even trust his own bodyguards and gives them fake travel plans, says former guard who defected
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vitaly Brizhaty, a former member of Putin's protection service, says the Russian leader "fears for his life." Putin makes multiple fake travel plans to keep even his own officers in the dark, he said. Brizhaty, who fled to Ecuador, said Putin is a war criminal and condemned the invasion of Ukraine. FSO staff are also cut off from communicating with anyone in the EU, the US, or Ukrainian relatives, as well as anyone who opposes the war, Brizhaty said. Brizhaty was reported as decrying the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying Putin is a war criminal.

Persons: Vitaly Brizhaty, Putin, Brizhaty, Vladimir Putin's, Gleb Karakulov, Karakulov, — Organizations: Service, Federal Protection Service, FSO, Radio Free, Center Locations: Ecuador, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russian, Crimea, Radio Free Europe, Oliva, EU, Russia

☆ Prigozhin was scrambling to salvage his business empire from Kremlin control in the days before his death, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Thibault Spirlet | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Yevgeny Prigozhin flew across African trying to salvage contracts there, the WSJ reported. Per the WSJ's investigation, Prigozhin was racing to stop the Kremlin dismantling his empire. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. AdvertisementAdvertisementPer the WSJ's account, the plane crash cut short an effort by Prigozhin to maintain his sprawling network of mercenary deals. Per The Journal, other sources of income for Prigozhin include gold from Sudan, and diamond and timber from the Central African Republic.

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Wagner Organizations: Service, Wall Street, Wagner Group, Kremlin, Central African Republic, Russian, Wagner, Dossier, Central African Locations: Russia, Wall, Silicon, Africa, Kremlin, Russian, St . Petersburg, Sudan, Mali, East, Central African Republic

☆ Live updates: Russia's war in Ukraine, upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Images from amateur Russian trainspotting websites appear to show Putin's train. The train is painted to look like an ordinary Russian Railways train. Among the parts of the train detailed is car number 021-78630, with a gym and spa for Putin, according to the Dossier Center. The Dossier Center is backed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled former Russian oil tycoon turned Kremlin critic. A glossy brochure made by Zircon itself shows a luxurious gym and spa on wheels designed for Putin, the Dossier Center says.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, ”, “, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Zircon Organizations: Russian Railways, CNN, Transportation Administration, Kremlin, Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR, WDR, Service Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Mykolaiv, Moscow, London

A glossy brochure made by Zircon itself shows a luxurious gym and spa on wheels designed for Putin, the Dossier Center says. The room itself, documents from the Dossier Center suggest, is outfitted to help prevent the use of listening devices. The train is painted to look like an ordinary Russian Railways train. “There is a ghost train on the railways of our country,” one trainspotter wrote alongside an image of what appears to be Putin’s train he posted on rutrain.com. It is through the image of those domes that we know that Putin’s train carries the ordinary external markings of a Russian train.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, ”, “, Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Zircon, –, Dmitry Pegov, Oleg Klimentiev, ” Pegov, Oleg Ateistovich, ” CNN’s, Gleb Karakulov, Karakulov, ” Karakulov, trainspotter, trainspotters, Abbas Gallyamov, ” Gallyamov, Putin's, Gallyamov, Wagner, It’s Organizations: CNN, Transportation Administration, Kremlin, Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR, WDR, Service, Russian Railways, “, Dossier, Zircon Service, Federal Security Service, FSO Locations: Ukraine, Mykolaiv, Moscow, London, Russian, Russia, Valdai, St . Petersburg, Kerch, Crimea, Israel

☆ Exclusive: Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's secret calendar reveals a decade of deep Kremlin ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A copy of Prigozhin's calendar obtained by Die Welt and shared with Insider shows just how deeply enmeshed he was with the Putin regime. Putin's name appears in Prigozhin's calendar only twice, and neither entry records a one-on-one meeting. Wagner employees typically identify themselves and sign documents using three or four-digit employee numbers, and most Prigozhin's meetings with Wagner Group employees are presented this way. These rows of data extracted from Yevgeny Prigozhin's private calendar show Wagner Group personnel identified solely by their employee numbers. In the end, his demands for a slot on Putin's calendar went unanswered.

Persons: Putin, Prigozhin, Aleksey Dyumin, Putin's, —, Vladimir Putin, It's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner — Sergei Surovikin, Ukraine —, Wagner, Dmitry Peskov, Sergei Shoigu, Ruslan Tsalikov, Anton Vaino, Valery Gerasimov, Shoigu, Sergei Surovikin, Matveev, Dmitry Medvedev, Yevgeny Prigozhin's, Walt Hickey, Mattathias Schwartz Organizations: Die Welt, Service, Russian Federation, Wagner Group, Insider, Putin, Politico, Defense, Prigozhin, Anadolu Agency, Getty, CNN, Welt, Kremlin Locations: Tula, Moscow, Ukraine, West, Africa, St . Petersburg, New, Dyumin, Russia, Belarus, Prigozhin, Russian, Rostov, Germany, Korea

☆ Putin's luxury armored train is fitted with a beauty room, anti-aging machines and a gym, report says. Take a look inside.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A report published by the Dossier Center reveals what the inside of Putin's luxury train looks like. It also has a beauty room that includes anti-aging machines, the report said. The other cars are fitted with restaurants, a cinema, and a lavish dining room as well as a Turkish hammam steam room and a beauty room, the report said. The beauty room in Russian President Vladimir Putin's train features anti-aging machines. Karakulov previously told the Dossier Center that the train also has a secret timetable so that it can move around inconspicuously.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin's, Putin's, Putin, Gleb Karakulov, hasn't, Karakulov Organizations: Service, Dossier Center, CNN, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Presidential Security Service, Guardian, Federal Guard Service, Russia's, Federal Guard Service's Locations: Turkish, Russia, Kyiv, Novo, inconspicuously

☆ Surovikin: Russian general was secret VIP member of Wagner, documents show
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Matthew Chance | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Moscow CNN —Documents shared exclusively with CNN suggest that Russian Gen. Sergey Surovikin was a secret VIP member of the Wagner private military company. The documents, obtained by the Russian investigative Dossier Center, showed that Surovikin had a personal registration number with Wagner. Surovikin is listed along with at least 30 other senior Russian military and intelligence officials, who the Dossier Center said are also VIP Wagner members. Surovikin was known to have links with the mercenary group, but the documents raise questions about the closeness of senior members of the Russian military and Wagner. During Prigozhin’s short-lived rebellion, Wagner fighters were able to take over the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, facing virtually no resistance from the Russian army.

Persons: Sergey Surovikin, Wagner, Surovikin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, “, ” Organizations: Moscow CNN, CNN, Russian Air Force Locations: Moscow, Russian, Syria, Rostov

☆ Putin is still worried about COVID-19 and makes his staff quarantine for weeks, says an elite Russian security officer who defected
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Vladimir Putin has still been isolating himself and making staff quarantine, an ex-FSO officer says. The former FSO officer said Putin only allowed staff members to work in the same room as him after a two-week quarantine period, per the Dossier Center. "There is a pool of employees who have been cleared, who underwent this two-week quarantine," Karakulov said. He added that when he left, Putin's staff were already becoming confused by the president's insistence on keeping to old pandemic restrictions. "I have no idea why; he's probably just worried about his health," Karakulov also said.

☆ Putin is so paranoid about being tracked, he travels in a secret grey train that stealthily blends in with other Russian locomotives, says a former elite Russian security officer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vladimir Putin rides in a train because planes can be tracked, said an FSO officer who defected. The train is indistinguishable from other Russian trains "for stealth purposes," the officer said. His account aligns with previous reports that Putin secretly travels in trains to avoid being tracked. "Same as all the other Russian Railways trains — grey with a red stripe," he said. Karakulov said his team started equipping the train for Putin's operations in 2014 or 2015, per the Dossier Center.

☆ Putin built identical offices across Russia to conceal his location, a Russian intelligence officer who defected says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vladimir Putin has replicas of his offices across Russia, a former intelligence officer said. The officer, who defected from Russia, shed light on Putin's paranoia and obsession with safety. Karakulov told the Dossier Center that offices in Putin's residences in St. Petersburg, Sochi, and Novo-Ogaryovo had been designed to look identical. Karakulov said that Putin sometimes further obscured his location by sending his motorcade to the airport despite remaining at home. While in actual fact, he would stay in Sochi," Karakulov said.

☆ Putin lives in an 'information vacuum' and never uses a cellphone or the internet, a Russian intelligence officer who defected says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vladimir Putin lives in an "information vacuum," a Russian defector who accompanied him on trips said. Gleb Karakulov told the Dossier Center that Putin doesn't use a cellphone or the internet. Putin instead gathers information from secret service reports and Russian TV news channels, he said. "He only receives information from his closest circle, which means that he lives in an information vacuum." Putin generally gathers information from secret service intelligence reports, as well as Russian TV news channels, according to Karakulov.

☆ How Putin's Russian goon squad used Mexican gig workers to troll an American election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +25 min

Posting to social media sounded like an easy work-from-home gig, so he applied. This post from the Prigozhin-backed Social CMS network in Mexico referred to America as "we." He verified his account by providing chat transcripts, screenshots, contracts, and internal company documents. But just because Social CMS didn't yield an immediate, large-scale impact doesn't mean it should be ignored. "I didn't know who are you," wrote the person who is listed in the corporate directory as Prigozhin's media liaison.

☆ Several of Putin's homes have been connected to railway lines with secret stations built nearby for his armored train: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Putin's main residences have been connected to a secret railway line, Proekt reported. Putin has been regularly using an armored train to travel between his homes, according to reports. The engineer also claimed to have seen Putin's special train traveling on the route on at least one occasion, per Proekt. Trainspotters have previously reported sightings of what is believed to be Putin's secret train in motion, according to images shared on a Russian train travel message board. Details of the supposed secret railway line and stations follows a report by the Dossier Center, a group that tracks the activity of Kremlin associates, which said Putin has been using a special armored train to travel between his homes since 2021.

☆ Amenințarea cu bombă, folosită de Belarus ca pretext, trimisă pe email după ce avionul a fost deturnat
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-27 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +1 min

Amenințarea cu bombă prezentată de autoritățile din Belarus ca motiv al deturnării unui avion de linie Ryanair care transporta un jurnalist disident să aterizeze la Minsk a fost trimisă după ce avionul a fost deviat, a declarat joi furnizorul de servicii de email Proton Technologies AG, potrivit digi24. Hamas a negat că ar avea cunoștințe sau legături cu orice amenințare cu bombă. Miercuri, grupul de cercetare din Londra, Dossier Center, a publicat ceea ce spunea că este un email cu presupusa amenințare Hamas. Emailul a fost trimis la 24 de minute după ce autoritățile din Belarus au avertizat echipajul avionului că există o amenințare cu bomba. Proton a refuzat să comenteze detaliile mesajului, dar a confirmat că emailul a fost trimis după ce avionul a fost deviat.

Persons: ., Emailul, Proton, Roman, Sofia Organizations: Technologies, Hamas, . Miercuri, elvețiană Locations: Belarus, Minsk, Londra, Dossier Center

☆ Amenințarea cu bombă, folosită de Belarus ca pretext, a fost trimisă pe email după ce avionul a fost deturnat
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-27 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +1 min

Sursa foto: flightradar.comAmenințarea cu bombă, folosită de Belarus ca pretext, a fost trimisă pe email după ce avionul a fost deturnatAmenințarea cu bombă prezentată de autoritățile din Belarus ca motiv al deturnării unui avion de linie Ryanair care transporta un jurnalist disident să aterizeze la Minsk a fost trimisă după ce avionul a fost deviat, a declarat joi furnizorul de servicii de email Proton Technologies AG, potrivit Reuters. Hamas a negat că ar avea cunoștințe sau legături cu orice amenințare cu bombă. Miercuri, grupul de cercetare din Londra, Dossier Center, a publicat ceea ce spunea că este un email cu presupusa amenințare Hamas. Emailul a fost trimis la 24 de minute după ce autoritățile din Belarus au avertizat echipajul avionului că există o amenințare cu bomba, scrie digi24.ro. Proton a refuzat să comenteze detaliile mesajului, dar a confirmat că emailul a fost trimis după ce avionul a fost deviat.

Persons: Reuters, ., Emailul, Proton, Roman, Sofia Organizations: Technologies, Hamas, . Miercuri, elvețiană Locations: Belarus, Minsk, Londra, Dossier Center

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