Ukrainian Group Reveals Putin’s Inner Circle - Newsweek

Some of Vladimir Putin's closest assistants have been identified by a Ukrainian open-source intelligence group whose research comes amid claims by a former Kyiv intelligence chief about the Russian president's fears for his security.

OSINT-Bees previously revealed the details of Russian military chiefs, politicians and propagandists and in their latest research named four key people who are either at Putin's side or in the background.

“These guys are the Russian president’s closest bodyguards and servants. Sometimes they even sleep in the next room,” OSINT-Bees told Newsweek.

It comes as former head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Lieutenant General Valerii Kondratiuk, told Ukrainian media that security measures around Putin "have been tightened to the maximum."

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment.

OSINT-Bees calls Putin's assistants "adjutants" and likens them to those who assisted the Russian czars in imperial times.

All are from Moscow or the Moscow region and are part of the Presidential Security Service (SBP) of the Federal Protective Service (FSO) and hold the rank of lieutenant colonel or lower. They like to travel to exotic places and have high-end cars, according to OSINT-Bees.

They often appear in images on the Kremlin website with Putin during his domestic and international trips, but little is known about their identities.

"These people are all going to be well-groomed, and because they're drawn from the Presidential Security Service, they're tall, big and athletic," Mark Galeotti, author of We Need to Talk About Putin, How the West Gets Him Wrong, told Newsweek. "They know how to behave in Putin's presence, they know not to draw too much attention to themselves.

"A handful of them have then gone on to high-profile political careers, but most don't," added Galeotti, founder and CEO of Mayak Intelligence. "Nonetheless, it's a major career opportunity, so they're obviously going to want to keep their noses clean and benefit from that."

OSINT-Bees said one assistant, Alexey Melnikov, 39, is a graduate of the FSO Academy of Russia and its images seen by Newsweek show him accompanying Putin on official business. He is also pictured on vacation with his wife on beaches.

Sergey Moskalenko, 43, is also named. He likely graduated from the Golitsyn border institute of the FSB of Russia, according to OSINT-Bees, which shared images of him accompanying Putin with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other world leaders.

Konstantin Panin, 43, is another and he is pictured with Putin on domestic trips. OSINT-Bees named the fourth as Ivan Rozhko, 38, from Barybyno, Domodedovo District, in the Moscow Region, another graduate of the FSO Academy of Russia.

The role of Putin's assistants was outlined by the Dossier Center, a Russian-language investigative site linked to exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

In research published in April 2025 titled All the President's Men, the outlet said that the men were by Putin's side around the clock even during the COVID-19 pandemic when Putin isolated himself in his residences.

Images during lockdown of Putin's meetings held at a long table in the Kremlin fueled claims about his mindset of increasing paranoia.

With the Ukraine war heading to its fifth anniversary on February 24, 2027, there are reports that point to Putin's fears of a coup, internal stability and assassination attempts.

In May, a European intelligence report obtained by CNN said that those closest to Putin are banned from traveling on public transportation and can only use phones without internet access.

Kondratiuk told Ukrainska Pravda on Monday that FSO personnel even faced communication restrictions with relatives.

"Putin is genuinely afraid, and these fears are apparently based on certain signals,” he said.

Galeotti said it was notable that such claims of Putin's fears come as assassinations and assassination attempts against various figures in Russia continue to be linked to Ukraine.

"If you're a figure within the security apparatus, your job is to be professionally paranoid and therefore you have to be ready just in case," Galeotti said.

"If you think that the Ukrainians might be capable of it—you have to prepare for it. And it's harder and harder to say no to security agencies in times of war."

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson and Dave Siminoff.