Kremlin Tightens Security in Wake of AI‑Driven Espionage Incidents

The U.S.-Israeli assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly rattled Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Following the killing, Russia’s security services reportedly disabled portions of the surveillance network protecting the president and his senior aides, cutting those links from the internet, according to the Financial Times.

Israeli intelligence collected hours of video from Iranian traffic cameras, enabling them to pinpoint exactly when and where the supreme leader met an aide on February 28—the day the U.S. and Israel launched their operation against Khamenei.

The incident underscored how artificial intelligence can process millions of hours of video from thousands of cameras “to extract patterns and secrets at an industrial scale,” the FT reported.

Internet isolation has long been a concern for Putin. Since Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the regime has periodically implemented internet blackouts to reinforce control over the population.

“Depending on political events, large celebrations, events such as the St. Peterburg International Economic Forum, or military operations in border regions with Ukraine, internet shutdowns can be activated without a specific reason for one, two, or more weeks,” said Ksenia Ermoshina, a senior researcher at the Center for Internet and Society of the CNRS.

France 24 spoke with Ermoshina about Putin’s growing anxiety surrounding the internet and AI‑enabled surveillance systems.

FRANCE 24: What does the surveillance landscape look like in Moscow and across Russia?

Russia began developing a “smart” camera system in 2015. Prior to that, videos were stored on removable media and could only be accessed manually. The 2015 system centralized storage on servers and introduced AI for image analysis.

NTech Lab, a company founded by Rostech, was tasked with installing these cameras across the country. By 2023, Russia had 508,000 AI‑equipped cameras, though Moscow alone housed 216,000 of them. NTech Lab began deploying the technology in Moscow in 2017, turning the city into a pilot for the project.

Seventy‑four percent of public spaces—bus stations, metro stations, museums, government sites—and ninety percent of residential buildings in Moscow are equipped with these “smart” cameras. Internet providers like Rostelecom and surveillance vendors have collaborated to expand coverage, leading to the monitoring of almost ninety percent of Moscow’s buildings.

While the system promises public safety and convenience, there has been little public debate over its legality or citizens’ right to privacy.

Russia currently operates 1.2 million cameras, with a target of 5 million by 2030.

FRANCE 24: Could the surveillance system itself become a threat to the Kremlin?

In Russia, cameras are frequently hacked—not just by foreign actors but also by local hackers. Volunteer hacker groups sometimes infiltrate the system for curiosity or to showcase vulnerabilities.

Russian artist Helena Nikonole, for instance, accessed cameras at voting stations, using built‑in microphones and speakers to play the Ukrainian national anthem as a form of protest. Similar acts have been carried out by activists criticizing the regime.

While it is unclear how robust the Kremlin’s camera network is, experts suspect they are better protected but still potentially vulnerable if connected to an internet network. Disconnection offers the only complete protection, yet doing so compromises the cameras’ real‑time functionality.

FRANCE 24: Are there other indicators of Putin’s growing paranoia regarding the internet?

Notably, Putin’s movements are often accompanied by digital isolation. Frequent internet blackouts occur when he travels between cities, suggesting a deliberate strategy to shield himself from potential cyber threats.

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