This is the largest known defection from the Russian security services since the start of the “special military operation” in Ukraine. Gleb Karakoulov, captain of the Federal Protection Service (FSO), managed to take refuge in Istanbul during a mission to Kazakhstan in mid-October 2022. Center Foldera media outlet of former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which publishes his testimony, details the various elements confirming its membership to this security service responsible for the protection of personalities, and in particular the President and the Prime Minister.
Recruited in 2009, Mr. Karakoulov carried out more than 180 missions abroad on behalf of the FSO, including several alongside Vladimir Putin. He worked as an engineer in the communications department, responsible for communications security. From this privileged position, he confirms the “information bubble” that surrounds the Russian leader and “his distorted relationship to reality”. This one, who does not use a cell phone or the Internet, “receives information only from his inner circle”. Only exception: “He asks to have access to Russian television wherever he goes. »
Captain Gleb Karakoulov, whose testimony, collected at the end of 2022, was broadcast only on April 5, for security reasons, failed his colleagues during a trip to Kazakhstan, where Vladimir Putin was participating, on April 13 and October 14, at different heights. At the end of this mission, he managed to keep his passport, usually kept by his superiors, and to fly to Turkey, also bringing his wife and daughter there.
Incredible expenses
This modus operandi also sheds light on the recent revelations of the FinancialTimes, according to which the security services are increasingly systematically confiscating the passports of senior civil servants and heads of public companies. The Kremlin has not denied this last point, citing “Stricter rules for people working in sensitive sectors”.
Gleb Karakoulov explains that he had first questions about his loyalty to Mr. Putin’s regime after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but also by observing the incredible expenses (“delegations of 200 people in 5-star hotels”) incurred for the travel of the head of the Kremlin and the prime minister – a significant part of which is used only for communication or the leisure of these officials.
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