I'm John Batchler. I welcome my colleague Ivana Stradner of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy,

writing most recently about strange doings in Moscow.

The Financial Times has reported that Vladimir Putin, the Tsar of all Russia's, is spending his life in a bunker, not just underground, in a bunker.

Why? Is he under attack?

Has somebody tried to shoot him? No. He lives there according to the Financial Times reporting,

and according to the report that they put together anonymously, there were many voices weighing in,

but they weren't named for obvious reasons. Putin is convinced that there's going to be a coup d'etat and that he will be removed,

and therefore he has doubled or tripled the pay and the number of the guards around him,

their FSO, which is their Secret Service.

He's criticized all the people around him who want him to meet normal

affairs. There are duplicate Putin offices everywhere I learned from the FT. So when he pretends to be

at work in the Kremlin, he's probably underground. He doesn't go home to his dachas anymore.

He doesn't meet with his family and his dachess. In other words, he's living a persecuted

life. Why? What came to him? Avana, a very good evening to you. I learned in the course of

learning about Putin's strange conduct that the Russians have been shutting down the internet

the authorities have been shutting down the internet intermittently, and the excuse is drones.

However, it occurs to me that there must be some connection to this paranoia that's going on with Putin.

Do they fear the internet?

Is that what's come to the Kremlin?

Good evening to you.

Good evening.

Thank you very much, John, for inviting me.

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