In order to prevent anyone from finding out about his state of health, Vladimir Putin takes very special precautions. Even his excrement is declared a state secret.
The Federal Service for Guarding the Russian Federation – or FSO for short – is the name of the service responsible for the physical well-being of the Russian President. And that probably includes a lot more than just ensuring the safety of the Kremlin boss. An employee of the Federal Security Service has a very special task, reports the French magazine “Paris Match”. Accordingly, Vladimir Putin is accompanied on trips abroad by an official responsible for collecting excrement and urine of the Russian President.
The collected presidential material is then brought to Russia by a bodyguard in a special suitcase. This procedure should be in use by 2017 at the latest. The purpose: to hide information about the health of the Russian head of state. The faeces should not get into the hands of foreign secret services, so the assumption.
Sources in the Middle East had already reported on the “special” FSO official in 2019 – after a visit by Putin to Saudi Arabia. They claim that this practice was also carried out, for example, during the Kremlin chief’s visit to France in May 2017.
Speculations about Vladimir Putin
A journalist from the Russian investigative platform “Project” helped the French colleagues with their research. The well-respected medium revealed a few weeks ago that Putin is being cared for by a large team of doctors, including oncology experts. The report had sparked new speculation about Putin’s state of health.
Own toilet when traveling abroad
A few years ago, the Russian investigative journalist Farida Rustamova, citing a former employee of Putin, reported that the Russian head of state uses his own toilet when traveling abroad – and has done so since the beginning of his reign.
This information was confirmed by an unexpected source. In February 2020, American comedy actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus was a guest on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. She was promoting a new film at the time. Speaking about filming in Austria, the actress recalled a tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna that was arranged for the film crew. During this tour, museum staff told Louis-Dreyfus that Russian President Putin had been there shortly before their visit. They revealed that they had to set up a special private bathroom for him outside of the museum. In case he has to look after big or small boys.
A very own Porta-Potti
“They told us that Putin always travels with his own bathroom,” the actress recalled. “And Putin uses the same porta-potti,” as Louis-Dreyfus put it, “on board his plane. As if we care that much about his shit,” Louis-Dreyfus joked, comparing Putin to Dr. evil
Putin was in Austria on June 5, 2018 for a one-day visit. During the trip, the Kremlin boss visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Together with the then Austrian Federal President, the Russian President opened the exhibition “Old Master Canvases from the Hermitage”. The ceremony was sponsored by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom and the Austrian oil and gas company OMV.
If it is not possible to set up a private bathroom, a whole gang of bodyguards accompanies Putin when he goes to the toilet. At the 2019 Normandy Summit in Paris, BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher counted six security guards escorting Putin to the toilet. One of them carries out a suitcase, as can be seen on a video. An accident?
“This is a huge field of manipulation”
But why the secrecy? Faeces contain a lot of information, Putin’s former employee told journalist Rustamova. “You can decode a person’s DNA, find out about their predisposition to hereditary diseases – Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, for example – whether they are sick now and what medications they are taking, what medications affect them, not to mention searching for distant relatives or illegitimate children. That’s a huge field of manipulation,” explains Putin’s acquaintance, adding that many Western heads of state would not use hotel toilets on business trips either.
Rustamova’s source also revealed that any foreign containers that Putin exceptionally drinks from are confiscated by his bodyguards. “Then they are thoroughly wiped and all traces are removed, or they are taken away.” According to him, the president’s biomaterials are classified as top secret information.
Putin has caused astonishment with strange behavior in the past. His thermal mug, which he takes everywhere with him, is now famous. In the winter of this year, Putin caused a stir when a bouquet of flowers he had left at a cemetery in Saint Petersburg on a memorial day was taken away by an FSO employee.
