Le Monde: Putin's Movements Tracked Via Fitness App Of His Bodyguards

• 30.10.2024, 8:45

This is not the first case.

The movements of world leaders can now be tracked online through a fitness app used by their bodyguards. This includes Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who is guarded by members of the Federal Security Service (FSO).

The app that allows tracking his movements is called Strava and is designed to track sports activity via GPS. This is stated in an investigation by the French newspaper of Le Monde.

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The journalists found six FSO employees responsible for Putin's security who have public accounts in Strava. Their movements, including during professional trips, could be tracked online.

In total, the Strava app has more than 125 million users in 190 countries. It is mostly used by runners and cyclists to record their activities and share information with the community.

This is not the first time that the technology used by security guards has been used to track those they are guarding. Former reporter for The Wall Street Journal Byron Thau, in his book ‘Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Technology and Power is Creating a New American Police State,’ said that U.S. intelligence agencies learned how to track Putin's movements.

They used a programme that a Pentagon contractor developed for $600,000 that tracks the location of smartphone owners through targeted advertising. Since Putin himself does not use a smartphone, the Americans monitored the phones of people in the dictator's entourage.