Major air defences were set up close to Vladimir Putin’s secret forest palace to ‘protect him and his family’ from long-range Ukrainian attacks.
This includes a ‘personal rocket launcher set up for Putin and his relatives’, according to independent Russian news outlet Agentstvo Novosti.
Images show a Pantsir-S1 air defence system installed near the presidential hideaway at Valdai in Novgorod region.
Three servicemen are constantly nearby, and the radar antenna rotates.
‘These air defence systems protect President Vladimir Putin and his family from a possible Ukrainian strike,’ said the report.
‘This conclusion can be drawn after the air defence system appeared near the Valdai presidential residence.
‘There are simply no other sites for protection there, except for the residence.’
The Russian president’s lover, Alina Kabaeva, 39, is known to favour their forest home, with Putin’s inner circle saying he ‘loves’ it.
The couple are believed to have a young family that are kept secret from the rest of Russia.
While at the Valdai palace, Putin is able to enjoy a number of extravagant amenities, including a ‘personal beauty parlour’ and a ‘fully equipped cosmetologist’s office, next to a dentist’, jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team claimed.
It is not the only place where Putin has deployed major weapons for his protection, as last week a Pantsir-S1 complex was revealed six miles from his official residence near Moscow.
The sprawling lakeside estate seen on drone footage includes a stable, golf course, mini-golf course, VIP restaurant with a cinema, bowling, billiard room and even a mini-casino.
It is dubbed Putin’s ‘most secret official dacha’, or second home.
The Russian’s decision to install missile defence at key locations follows Ukraine’s use of long range repurposed Soviet era drones to strike at Engels-2 in Saratov region in December, killing three.
The attacks led to warnings in Russia that Moscow was at risk from the ‘enemy’.
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