Putin rules Russia from secret cloned offices
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin rules the country from a network of custom-built identical offices, according to extracts from a new book, Swap: A Secret History of the New Cold War by Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson, published by The Times on Sep. 10.
The book delves into Putin’s secret bunkers and his plot to kidnap and arrest an American journalist Evan Gershkovich on trumped-up spying charges.
The CIA claims there are three elaborately constructed, identical conference rooms across Russia. Each was custom-built and furnished to the same exact specifications, down to the precise positioning of a pencil holder, engraved with a double-headed eagle, on the lacquered wooden desk.
"Neither the ten perfectly sharpened pencils inside nor any other detail in the windowless rooms offered a clue to Putin’s true location."
The dictator, who has ruled Russia for nearly a quarter of a century, refuses to use a mobile phone and rarely goes online. All his meetings are held via video link using closed channels. Even his closest associates often do not know which of Russia's 11 time zones he is in.
The Kremlin often creates the illusion of Putin's movements. They announce his departure from one city, then send an empty motorcade to the airport and a decoy plane before he appears on a video conference, pretending to be somewhere he is not.
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