Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
In a shocking incident, a £275,000 Aurus Senat limousine, believed to be from Russian president Vladimir Putin's official car fleet, exploded and caught massive fire in Moscow, media reports said.
The incident took place on March 29, on a street just north of Moscow's FSB secret service headquarters in Lubyanka, the EuroWeekly reported.
The video of the incident is going viral on the internet which has led to speculations of assassination attempts on the Russian president.
The footage showed that the fire started in the engine of the car and thereafter spread inside the vehicle, the Sun reported.
Putin reportedly uses Russian-made cars and is also known to give them as gifts; one such car was also presented to Kim Jong Un, the report added.
It was also not clear who was using the car at the time of the incident as no injuries were reported.
There was also no clarity on what caused the fire inside the vehicle.
However, when the street was filled with black smoke from the car fire, workers from nearby bars and restaurants rushed to help, as mentioned in the EuroWeekly report.
The situation was brought under control shortly after the emergency services arrived at the scene.
The report further added that this incident will undoubtedly increase Putin's concern about his safety as he takes extra precautions to keep himself safe during the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. Meanwhile, FSO officers were reportedly spotted opening garbage dumps and sewer drains to search for hidden bombs near the location where the president was speaking at a venue in Moscow just last week.
A source close to Kremlin has asserted that the already strict security measures have been increased to unprecedented levels by Russia’s special services, media reports added.
“He is protected by a whole army of visible and invisible guards, " the Sun said.