Unconfirmed sources claim that Vladimir Putin’s car was “attacked” in what appears to have been an attempt at assassination.
Local media reported that the official limousine of the Russian president made a “loud bang” and that there was significant smoke coming from the area of the left front wheel.
Putin was unharmed as the car sped to safety, but there have been a number of security service arrests and some of Putin’s bodyguards have reportedly vanished amid allegations that top-secret information about the 69-year-old leader’s whereabouts was compromised, according to the General SVR Telegram channel.
The reports have not been confirmed or denied by the Kremlin.
Putin was returning to his official residence on an indeterminate date in a decoy or “backup” motorcade despite intense security concerns, the anti-Kremlin channel claimed.
This reportedly included five armoured vehicles, with Putin riding in the third.
“The first escort car was halted by an ambulance on the approach to the residence, a few kilometres distant, and the second escort car drove around without halting [due to the] abrupt impediment, as well as during the diversion of the obstruction.
“Subsequently, the body of a man was found driving [the] ambulance, which blocked the first car from the motorcade,” said SVR General.
The channel – which boasts an inside track to the Kremlin yet provides no hard evidence for its allegations – said details of the supposed attack are “classified”.
“The head of the president’s bodyguard [service] and several other people have been suspended and are in custody,” claimed the channel, without naming any of the suspects.
“A narrow circle of people knew about the movement of the president in this cortege, and all of them were from the presidential security service.
“After the incident, three of them disappeared. These were exactly the people who were in the first car of the motorcade.
“Their fate is currently unknown.
“The car on which they were traveling was found empty a few kilometres from the incident.”
