A report in the OCCRP indicates Putin's paranoia of assassination by drone or coup attempt has him implementing extreme security measures, Is elite defection imminent? Bette experts weigh in
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Putin is doomed and russia is doomed, but that is the consequence of giving a man with a diseased mind unchecked power. Americans should take note!—Dr. Michael MacKay for Bette Dangerous
“The inevitable fate of all tyrants.”
That is how I quote-tweeted the new investigation by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in conjunction with its Russian partner, Important Stories, about how security is tightening around Putin “amid coup and assassination fears.”
According to OCCRP:
Security measures of unprecedented severity have been instituted in the Kremlin in recent weeks as Russian President Vladimir Putin anticipates a possible coup or assassination attempt.
Those and other sensitive details are described in a report compiled by an intelligence agency of an EU country.
Reporters from Important Stories, a storied Russian investigative outlet and longtime OCCRP partner, were provided the document by a government source close to the agency and have independently corroborated several of its claims.
The report describes “high alert” in the Kremlin “since the beginning of March 2026” about “the risk of a plot or coup attempt against the Russian president.”
“In particular,” it reads, “[Putin] fears the use of drones for a possible assassination attempt by members of the Russian political elite.”
Visitors to the Presidential Administration undergo two levels of screening, including a full body search by FSO officers.
The FSO has significantly reduced the list of locations regularly visited by the president; neither he nor his family visit their usual residences in the Moscow region and Valdai anymore.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Putin has often taken refuge in renovated bunkers, particularly in the Krasnodar region, where he may work for weeks, while Russian media continue public communication using pre-recorded footage.
No visits to military infrastructure have been organized this year, in contrast to frequent trips in 2025.
Communication networks in certain districts of Moscow are periodically shut down.
FSO officers conduct large-scale checks using canine units and are also deployed along the Moscow River, ready to respond to possible drone attacks.
The FSO now controls and approves any informational or media publication involving the president, relying on a secret presidential decree (apparently referring to announcements of Putin’s trips and participation in various events — R.A.)
Personnel working near Putin are now prohibited from using mobile phones; they must use devices without internet access.
These employees are also banned from using public transportation and move exclusively using FSO transport; surveillance systems have been installed in the homes of cooks, photographers, and bodyguards.
As with anything Kremlin-related, take it with a grain of salt spiked with a shot of hopium, but Russia watchers see indicators of an increasingly paranoid Putin: missing from Moscow’s Victory Day parade — military vehicles, due to drone strike fear. The May 9 event includes a low number of foreign leaders. This, in conjunction with a new emboldening of Russians publicly complaining on social media about mobile internet shutdowns.
Elite defection from Putin’s inner circle will be the strongest indicator of whether or not he’s truly facing a palace coup, and the OCCRP reports Sergei Shoigu, former Defense Minister and current Secretary of the Security Council, as a “potential destabilizing actor.”
I turned to Bette experts for their hot take on this report, and here are the highlights:
Joni Askola, geopolitical analyst, Finland:
I doubt that a coup is imminent. I also don’t think there is anything new in Putin’s paranoia, despite recent reports. He became extremely paranoid during COVID and hasn’t even dared to visit troops near the front in over four years of full-scale war. Ukraine’s deep-strike capabilities, combined with the war not going well, must make it difficult for him to sleep at night. He is taking his security seriously, but that is to be expected of a dictator in his situation.—Joni Askola for Bette Dangerous
Dr. Michael Mackay, political philosopher and geopolitical analyst:
I have long said Putin’s fatal flaw is belief in his own propaganda. I wrote this on Twitter in 2014, six months into russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
“Michael MacKay @mhmck 31 Aug 2014
#Putin is shocked that his troops invading #Ukraine are not welcomed as liberators. He makes the mistake of believing his own propaganda.”
Putin projects his hopes and fears into the propaganda of the Moscow empire, and then lives within that false projection as if it is the world.
Because Putin lives an unquestioned life he is also subject to conspiratorial thinking. He has this in common with the vatniks of russia: a belief that nothing is what it seems to be and there are unseen forces at work.
Conspiracists like Putin cannot believe there is a shared human experience, a reality independent of human will, or a truth to events that transcends individual perception. Incidentally, Putin shares this character flaw with his servant Trump.
Here’s an example. Putin cannot wrap his head around the fact the Internet has become an indispensable tool of daily life for russians as it has for people around the world. All he can see is a potential weapon that can track his movements to target him for assassination.
Putin is a dictator who sends body doubles in any situation of risk. Believing his own propaganda and prone to conspiratorial thinking, of course Putin shut down the Internet and conducts a hopeless war of aggression against Ukraine. Putin is doomed and russia is doomed, but that is the consequence of giving a man with a diseased mind unchecked power. Americans should take note!—Dr. Michael MacKay for Bette Dangerous
And we are. My latest report reveals justice keeps on happening.
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
