Paranoid security operatives guarding Vladimir Putin will disable mobile internet coverage in St Petersburg when the dictator today makes a speech in the city.

They fear the signals could be used to direct drones in assassination strikes on the warmonger, as has become a common tactic in Ukraine and – more recently – in attacks across the border in Russia.

Russia’s Ministry of Communications issued a disabling order to all mobile operators, according to sources of Faridaily news outlet run by journalist Farida Rustamova.

The move was ‘in order to prevent drones from attacking the forum venue during the plenary session of Putin’s traditional event’ – the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, seen as Russia’s Davos equivalent.

Ukraine has launched multiple drone strikes on Russia in retaliation for endless missile attacks by Putin’s forces.

Strikes which hit the Kremlin on May 3 were blamed on Ukraine by the Russians.

This was portrayed by Moscow as a bid to ‘assassinate Putin’.

And in late May a drone strike came close to Putin’s palatial official residence Novo-Ogaryovo, near Moscow.

Footage showed sniffer dogs at today’s venue in St Petersburg, which is Putin’s home city, amid a huge security clampdown.

Putin is due to make a ‘lengthy speech’ followed by a discussion.

‘We can expect a very voluminous speech from the head of state,’ said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

‘Indeed a rather long speech was prepared.’

Most Western countries are boycotting the event which in previous years involved eminent foreign visitors.

Putin’s scheduled appearance comes at a time when there are rumours that he is increasingly using a body double for public events due to security fears or illness.

Swedish economist Anders Aslund – who has worked as an advisor to both the Russian and Ukrainians governments, told Die Welt: ‘Putin doesn’t dare go out in public. Whenever he appears, there are suspicions that he is a double.

‘Putin seems frightened. He has built bunkers at his three main residences. He travels the country by armoured train. And at each of his three main residences, he has built special stations for his personal security.

‘The level of paranoia seems almost pathological.’

Both Russia and Ukraine have deployed drones to carry out precision strikes against enemy units. The small, mobile devices are difficult to detect and can go deep behind enemy lines while allowing their operators to stay out of the firing line.

Both sides have used consumer quad-copters to scope out enemy positions and drop grenades down onto soldiers hiding in fox holes, or into armoured vehicles.

But consumer models tend to require connection to the internet to function, with operators using internet-connected devices and their GPS signals to manoeuvre them into positions.

They can also be used to guide other, large munitions to their targets. 

After the drone strike on the Kremlin in May, it was reported that Putin became fearful of taking any overseas trips out of fear of being assassinated.

This also came after an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over war crimes charges in Ukraine, which requires any member state to detain Putin should he step food in their territory.

There have also been murmurings of a potential coup against him by Wagner mercenary group warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has grown increasingly critical of Russia’s military and its faltering efforts on the battlefield if Ukraine.

According to the Daily Beast, citing the Russian independent outlet Verstka, the Russian leader has grown increasingly fearful for his life in recent months.

The source said ‘behind the scenes of the Kremlin’ that Putin was wary of travelling anywhere and that ‘he has no sense of security.’ 

He did not travel to Turkey for the inauguration of President Recep Erdogan, and he will not attend an upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in India in July.

Reports have also suggested that Putin’s inner circle has grown smaller and smaller since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, to the point that he is refusing the listen to negative battlefield news from his generals.

Kyiv’s counteroffensive is making steady progress on at least two fronts in Ukraine, with the country’s military saying on Thursday it had regained control of more than 38 square miles of territory.

Russia’s own progress, meanwhile, has been stalled for months, with its military efforts more focused on holdings its defensive positions.

According to Iuliia Osmolovska, director of the GlobSec think-tank, Putin is shunning any bad news of his military’s campaign and refuses to use the internet.

‘As far as we know from reliable sources, Putin stopped receiving any real, up-to-date information from the battlefield some time ago because he doesn’t want to hear bad news,’ she said. 

‘Secondly, he doesn’t use the internet, so he has no other information to verify the news he is hearing,’ she added.

Russia announced plans on Thursday to stage elections in occupied parts of Ukraine in just three months, Moscow’s latest bid to signal it is in control over the the south and east of the country, even as the Ukrainian counteroffensive presses on.

The Ukrainian assault is in its early stages, and military experts say the decisive battles still lie ahead. But corpses of Russian soldiers and burnt-out armoured vehicles lining the roadside in villages newly recaptured by Ukrainian troops attested to Kyiv’s biggest advances since last year.

‘Our heroic people, our troops on… the front line are facing very tough resistance,’ Zelensky told NBC News in an interview in Kyiv. ‘Because for Russia to lose this campaign to Ukraine, I would say, actually means losing the war.’

Zelensky said the news from the front lines was ‘generally positive but it’s very difficult,’ according to a partial transcript of the interview.

The Prince of Wales has praised troops for doing a ‘really good job’ during the final rehearsal ahead of Trooping the Colour, ‘despite difficult conditions’, after two soldiers ‘fainted’ in the heat. 

During the practice session, known as the Colonel’s Review, a member of The Band collapsed; a photo showed the soldier lying on the ground with an instrument in hand. Another person was snapped being carried away on a stretcher.

The service at Horse Guards Parade in London – which saw Prince William inspect the Welsh Guards while on horseback – is effectively a final rehearsal for Trooping The Colour, which takes place next Saturday to mark King Charles III’s official birthday.

William, 40, who became Colonel of the Welsh Guards in December 2022, looked incredibly smart in his red military uniform, which he teamed with the traditional bearskin hat, while proudly displaying several medals on his chest.

Taking to Twitter after the service, the Prince of Wales wrote: ‘A big thank you to every solider who took part in the Colonel’s Review this morning in the heat. Difficult conditions but you all did a really good job. Thank you. W.’

This year’s event is particularly significant because it is the first since Charles succeeded to the throne last September. But while the British Royal Family usually turn out in force for the occasion, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not been invited, according to The Daily Mail’s Richard Eden. 

He wrote in his column today: ‘When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit royal duties three years ago, Queen Elizabeth said they would “always be much loved members of my family”. 

‘And Buckingham Palace officials were keen to stress that they would continue to be invited to family events. I hear that Prince Harry and Meghan have not, however, been invited to the King’s Birthday Parade next weekend.

‘It will be the first time in Harry’s life that he has not been welcome at the monarch’s official birthday celebrations.’

‘I’m afraid it’s a reflection of the state of relations at the moment,’ a source said.

Harry and Meghan travelled from California for last year’s Trooping the Colour, which became part of the late Queen’s platinum jubilee weekend.

The couple were invited by the late monarch to watch the ceremony with other members of the Royal Family from offices overlooking Horse Guards Parade.

They were not, however, asked to be on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the official flypast later in the day.

The official birthday of the Sovereign is marked each year by a military parade and march-past, known as Trooping the Colour. The troops participating in the parade are drawn of fully trained, operational troops from the Household Division.

The monarch’s colour of a battalion of Foot Guards is ‘trooped’ – carried along the ranks – each year before the Sovereign. 

Only one colour can be trooped at a time, and the five Household Regiments – Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards take their turn each year.

The ceremony derives from two old military ceremonies, Trooping the Colour and Mounting The Queen’s Guard.

The origin of the ceremony goes back to the early eighteenth century, and possibly even earlier, when the guards and sentries for the Royal Palaces and other important buildings in the capital were mounted daily on the parade ground by the Horse Guards building.

A feature of guard mounting was for the colours of the battalion to be carried (or ‘trooped’) slowly down the ranks so that they could be seen and recognised by the soldiers.

After the Trooping ceremony, the Royal Family will make their way back to Buckingham Palace where shortly after, several members will appear on the balcony.

The Royal Family usually travel to Horse Guards Parade in carriages and those members of the Royal Family who’re on parade as Colonels of the regiments of Foot Guards, ride on horses on parade.

Other members of the Royal Family watch the parade from the Horse Guards Parade building from the Duke of Wellington’s old office, overlooking the parade ground.

Tickets for the Trooping the Colour are available to the public, but are chosen by ballot early in the year.

For those who are unsuccessful in their application, securing a spot on The Mall is certainly the next best thing, as the march passes from St James’s down towards Buckingham Palace.

Naked protest at St Peter’s Basilica: Man strips and stands on main altar in Ukraine war demonstration before Vatican guards take him away

• The tourist stripped off his clothes and stood naked on the main altar
• The protester appeared to have ‘Save children in Ukraine’ scrawled on his back

By Christian Oliver

Published: 05:07 EDT, 2 June 2023 | Updated: 05:36 EDT, 2 June 2023