Israel Spooked Putin So Much, Russia Shut Down Its Own Surveillance Network
Russia's FSB chief raised alarm that Putin's surveillance network could be breached after Israel used hacked Tehran cameras and AI to track and kill Khamenei, now parts of the system have been disabled.
The Financial Times is reporting that Russia temporarily disabled portions of its state surveillance and security apparatus following the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in February, a stunning admission of just how deeply the Israeli intelligence operation rattled Moscow.
Israel had hacked into Tehran's extensive traffic camera network to track Khamenei's bodyguards and top Iranian officials in the lead-up to the assassination, the Financial Times reported in March, citing two people familiar with the matter. Nearly all of Tehran's traffic cameras had been compromised years earlier, with footage encrypted and transmitted to Israeli servers. A camera angle near Pasteur Street, close to Khamenei's compound, allowed analysts to observe the routines of bodyguards and drivers — where they parked, when they arrived, and whom they escorted. Israeli AI tools processed millions of hours of footage to map behavioral patterns and security protocols across the entire chain of protection around the supreme leader.
The revelation sent shockwaves through the Kremlin. According to the new FT report, Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), raised alarm that Russia's own surveillance systems, long regarded as an iron-clad tool of state control, could turn from an asset into a liability if hostile intelligence agencies penetrated them the same way Israel penetrated Tehran's. Concerns intensified further when it emerged that BriefCam, the Israeli AI video analytics software used in the operation, had been found running on servers at several prominent Russian facilities, raising questions about how deeply Israeli or Western intelligence may already have penetrated Russia's own camera network.
A European intelligence report obtained by CNN confirmed that since early March 2026, the Kremlin and Putin himself have been acutely concerned about potential leaks of sensitive information and the risk of a plot or coup attempt, with Putin "particularly wary of the use of drones for a possible assassination attempt by members of the Russian political elite."
Reports from Russian Telegram channels with links to security services indicated Putin began spending nights barricaded inside the Kremlin, and shut down internet access in Moscow over fears that enemies had infiltrated the state surveillance network.