Putin's Driver Killed in Car Crash

[mendeleyev]

This is a repost of today's Mendeleyev Journal article about the death of one of President Putin's drivers.

There must have been a full moon over Moscow on 05 September because the next morning brought out the usual band of strange reports with the crash on Kutuzovsky Avenue which killed one of Vladimir Putin’s drivers.

It wasn’t long before press members were being deluged by the same cadre of conspiracy theory spinners with their questions that seem at times to be extreme manifestations of drug overdose, or perhaps mental retardation.  Sadly, most of these clowns have access to internet radio shows, blogs, and YouTube channels and love to masquerade as underground journalists.





Some wanted to know if it was an attempt by the opposition to assassinate the president. Others hatched the idea that the car was being driven as a “decoy” to confuse opposition members in the Kremlin's inner circle from knowing where Mr. Putin was at the time.

Some loudly proclaimed that it was a plot by American president Obama to kill Putin and wanted clues seeking confirmation that the CIA had been involved. Others were convinced that the Clinton campaign orchestrated the accident as payback for Russian hackers who reaped top secret info from Mrs. Clinton's unprotected email mail servers.

Oh Lord, the display of ignorance is stunning. So, we’ll review some facts here. As usual, facts have a way of exposing empty conspiracy theories.

Fact: the Kremlin does not use decoys on busy streets. When Mr. Putin travels on city streets, all traffic is shut down and the presidential motorcade takes over the entire roadway. There are police motorcycle or patrol car escorts at the front, then several presidential cars depending on who is traveling with him, at least two or more SUVs with highly trained members of the Presidential Protective Service, and normal protocol has two ambulances following at the rear.

Fact: presidential motorcades are very unpopular in a city with such massive traffic problems, and therefore Mr. Putin’s most common form of transportation between the presidential residence at Novo-Ogaryovo (outside Moscow) and on the rare days when he comes into Moscow to the Kremlin, is a special squad of helicopters which land on the helipad inside the Kremlin territory.

Even in areas away from the centre of Moscow, as seen below, Mr. Putin prefers to travel by helicopter for short distance events.



Theory: Putin hides his schedule because he is afraid of those around him.

Fact: while there have been such incidents, those are very rare. There are times when his schedule is veiled, but not usually. On Sept 6 he was in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) to lay flowers at the grave of recently deceased Uzbek president Islam Karimov. He also met with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain at the Kremlin, and conducted a meeting in the Kremlin’s St Catherine Hall with leaders of his United Russia party regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections.

In the days before, he had attended the G20 summit in China. His schedule was widely known and there would have been no need to send out a car as a "decoy" that traveled in normal lanes with a single occupant in daytime traffic. Had someone planned a “hit” as the theory goes, they would have known in advance to come to the Kremlin, not send a car to hit a lone driver traveling in a standard lane on a busy avenue.

Fact: such a “hit” would have to be highly coordinated with informants and spotters assisting the driver of a hit car. But again, Mr. Putin does not travel on busy streets in a car without multiple advance and rear escorts.

For what it is worth, the car involved in the crash  is registered to the Federation Council, the upper house (Senate) of parliament. It was not registered to the presidential administration of which there are hundreds, over 700 in number, of official cars. It was not traveling in the centre lane that is reserved for government officials, nor was the car carrying the required flashing blue light had it been on official business.

The CCTV video accounts of the accident show that things happened so fast that it is difficult to tell many of the accident details leading up to the crash. But, attempts to label it as a CIA attempt, or some other conspiracy to take out the Russian president are just stunningly ignorant.

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[Gator]

Interesting Mendy. 

The photo is not very helpful.  My guess is a single car accident at a high rate of speed based on the damage seen in the photo.  But I could easily be wrong.

Out of curiosity, what is make and model of the automobile? 

[Gator]

You mentioned G20.  Are there any rumors about what was said between Putin and Obama in their private 90-minute meeting at G20 summit?   We understand Putin's press secretary labeled the meeting as "frozen" while Obama's used the term "constructive."    Lame ducks frequently encounter such.   

[mendeleyev]

Gator, you are correct in that it was car to car.





Both cars are dark. The Putin driver was in a black BMW while the other driver was in a black Mercedes.

[Gator]

Both cars are dark. The Putin driver was in a black BMW while the other driver was in a black Mercedes.

Both fast cars, and no median divider.  Strangely, little traffic.   

I came across two such accidents in Moscow during my travels there.  Bodies and/or injured already taken away, air bags deployed, blood visible, etc.  Both of those occurred on a congested highway, and a German car had sped into the center to go around traffic, except there was no center and someone in the other direction did the same.   In one of accidents, the blue light was still flashing. 

At the time of Putin's driver death, there was little traffic.  Someone lost control.   

[mendeleyev]

There is a centre divider lane--but the car that veered was using it. That lane is reserved for government and emergency vehicles (although no matter who is dying no ambulance driver in his right mind would dare to use it). Neither car displayed the blue light required for use of the lane and official business. That will justify a long prison sentence for the driver of the Mercedes (unless related to someone really, really, really, important).

[Chicagoguy]

I have observed some terrible driving on my visits to Moscow so I could believe almost anything. Or worse [or funny ] driving is on Utube - Russia.
I am usually aggressive but I am not ready for Moscow.

[Anotherkiwi]

I have observed some terrible driving on my visits to Moscow...

Why limit it to Moscow?  I posted several years ago about the coach I was travelling in which ran a Police car off the road when overtaking a line of trucks on a main highway east of Kazan.  The driver was lucky he only got a severe talking-to after he stopped and waited for the Police car to come back to us (about ten minutes later).

The scold obviously had little effect, because an hour and a half later he repeated the suicidal manoeuvre which had nearly got us killed the first time.  The second time it was a 20+ tonne lorry which missed us by the proverbial gnat's whisker.  The wonder was that I appeared to be the only person on the coach (except, maybe, for the driver) who was actually watching death approach us at a closing speed of around 250 km/h.    I was therefore definitely the only one whose adrenaline rush was such that I could have picked up the coach with one hand and thrown it across the road. 

[BC]

I have observed some terrible driving on my visits to Moscow so I could believe almost anything.

Try Naples... fun fun....

[alex330]

At the time of Putin's driver death, there was little traffic.  Someone lost control.

Yes, looks like the driver nodded off to sleep or had a stroke or seizure possibly. Happens all the time here, we just have barriers that stop the vehicle.

[mendeleyev]

Kutuzovsky Prospekt is one of the largest roadways in and out of Moscow. It passes by Victory Park on its way down the hill toward the centre of Moscow. For must of the time there is a centre lane that is reserved for official vehicles. Although sometimes ignored, cars traveling in this lane should be using a single blue light flashing from the top of the car.

The Mercedes in this accident was in that lane, but doesn't appear to be operating with a blue light.


Here is a video of that roadway on a typical day. At the :16 point you'll notice the car merge from a side street onto Kutuzovsky. At the :40 mark a car whizzes by in that centre lane (sans a blue light).





At 1:57 you can see a team of street sweeping trucks in their famous "flying V" formation (same formation used for clearing snow in winter). That formation is patterned after flying bird formations and is an extremely effective way to clear snow in winter.


At 2:40 you can begin to see the edge of Victory Park to the right. In the centre, you see the Triumphal Arch memorial to victory over the French in 1812. (Kutuzovsky Ave was named after Mikhail Kutuzov, leader of Russian field army during the French invasion.

That centre lane reappears past the memorial and at 3:16 you can see an official car using the lane--this one does have a blue light.

At 4:53 you can see four cars using the lane improperly, however at 5:05 there is an small official convoy with an escort. Likely some mid-level official.

At 5:20 the driver has merged off to a street near the Kremlin. Notice how the green light flickers to show drivers that it is okay to move. Today most lights also have timers that display the number of seconds a driver has before the light changes.

[Anotherkiwi]

Try Naples... fun fun....

Yeah, I've been there, too.  I wasn't game enough to get out of the coach and try to cross the road to reach the designated café for morning tea!

[Gator]

Ho Chi Minh City - a bustling, crowded city.

Picture in your head a large intersection of two four lane roads.  The term  "lane' is meaningless as 6-8 motorcycles move side by side, a few mere inches from touching.  There is no traffic light, no traffic cop.    No one stops. 

Everyone progresses through the intersection without stopping.  No cursing, just a maddening sound of the cycle operators tooting their little horns in a near staccato rhythm, alerting drivers ahead of you and beside you of your position.    The pace is slow, but constant like sand  flowing from an hour glass or ants in a glass ant house. 

What almost messed it up is that my RW and I had to cross on foot.  At first we moved in a stop and go pattern and that caused the drivers to slow, not knowing what to expect.  When we walked across the street slowly without stopping or looking, everything went smoothly. 

[BillyB]

Ho Chi Minh City - a bustling, crowded city.

  The term  "lane' is meaningless as 6-8 motorcycles move side by side, a few mere inches from touching.  There is no traffic light, no traffic cop.    No one stops. 

Sometimes the term "sidewalk is meaningless too. I talked to a few ex pats living there. They say you need to look both ways before exiting the front door of your house.... because you might get run over.

[BC]

Yeah, I've been there, too.  I wasn't game enough to get out of the coach and try to cross the road to reach the designated café for morning tea!

It's actually quite safe.  When newbies come here I just tell them to drive like you would drive a carnival bumper car but instead of bumping just try not to hit anyone or anything..