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President Vladimir V. Putin has lengthy operated inside the confines of a good safety bubble, which grew to become even tighter and extra isolating throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The sprawling pink fortress of the Kremlin, which Russian officers claimed was the goal of a Ukrainian drone assault on Wednesday, comprises each the president’s official residence and his predominant workplace, making it the guts of that bubble.
The company liable for defending the president, the Federal Guard Service — recognized by its Russian initials, F.S.O. — hardly ever confirms Mr. Putin’s whereabouts or discusses his actions. It typically closes areas adjoining to the Kremlin, significantly Pink Sq., to the general public.
Over the previous few years, drones have been banned from flying over the Kremlin and the encompassing space. Safety officers deploy particular units to down any within the neighborhood.
When the Russians claimed to take out two Ukrainian drones above the Kremlin — round 2:30 a.m. native time on Wednesday, in keeping with movies reviewed by The New York Instances — Mr. Putin was at a sprawling compound about 20 miles to the west, his spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, informed reporters. The compound is within the elite suburb of Novo-Ogaryovo, alongside the Moscow River.
Mr. Putin travels incessantly between the compound and the Kremlin in a prolonged motorcade. The wealthy residents of close by compounds grumble quietly that the F.S.O. closes the street to different visitors whereas the president is in transit.
Russian information media reviews have recommended that, for the reason that begin of the coronavirus disaster, Mr. Putin has spent extra time on the compound or at one other rural unfold northeast of Moscow, close to Lake Valdai.
Whereas the huge grounds of the Kremlin include the official presidential residence, it’s extra ceremonial than sensible. Solely not too long ago did Mr. Putin publicly point out the existence of a personal condominium that he claimed to make use of incessantly — an uncommon occasion of him discussing his residing preparations.
“I’ve an condominium right here, the place I’ve been spending a variety of time recently, working, spending nights fairly often,” he informed reporters when President Xi Jinping of China visited Moscow on the finish of March.
Each his predominant workplace and his condominium are within the Senate Palace, a yellow domed construction that was seen in video footage exhibiting what seems to be a drone exploding. The palace additionally comprises Catherine Corridor, a hovering blue and white round reception room the place Mr. Putin holds ceremonies, comparable to handing out state awards, and the dome itself covers the presidential library.
The Kremlin fortress holds numerous vacationer points of interest, like a museum of czarist artifacts and jewels, and a medieval Russian Orthodox church the place some czars are interred. It’s also the central working venue of the presidential administration, though solely the closest advisers to Mr. Putin spend time working close to his workplace. The remaining are in an workplace constructing exterior the Kremlin partitions.
Even when Mr. Putin seems to be within the Kremlin, he could not truly be there, in keeping with a former F.S.O. captain who defected. The Russian president has established equivalent places of work in a number of areas, all furnished and adorned the identical in each element, together with matching desks and wall hangings, in keeping with the previous captain, Gleb Karakulov. Official reviews have typically described him as being in a single place when he was truly elsewhere, Mr. Karakulov informed a London-based opposition information outlet, the File Heart, in early April.
The safety measures across the Kremlin can obfuscate others’ areas, too. For the reason that introduction of GPS monitoring, the sign within the neighborhood of the fortress typically disappears or is teleported to an airport greater than 20 miles exterior Moscow. Taxi fares have been recognized to leap accordingly, as if the passenger traveled to the airport, not central Moscow.
Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting.
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