The Daily Populous Wednesday May 6th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by inews.co.uk and submitted by Tall_Pressure7042

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Vladimir Putin is scaling up his personal protection against a potential coup and assassination threats, according to a leaked intelligence report, as the Kremlin escalates security measures amid signs of mounting domestic opposition.

The Russian leader is said to have largely abandoned his primary residences in Moscow and in Valdai, north-west of the capital, and “taken refuge in renovated bunkers”, according to the document attributed to an unspecified European Union intelligence service.

Russia’s federal protection service, the FSO, has sharply reduced Putin’s public appearances and taken control of public messaging about his activities, the report – published on Russian investigative site Important Stories – claims. The Kremlin is yet to comment.

Shorts – Quick stories Scroll to previous short Scroll to next short Four key takeaways from Starmer’s antisemitism summit The supermarket using invisible spray to combat shoplifting The inflatable ‘gentle’ forceps alternative for childbirth 1 2 3 4 Four key takeaways from Starmer’s antisemitism summit Iran’s attempts to incite antisemitism in the UK “will not

be tolerated”, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Here are the main points from

the Downing Street summit. Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 5: Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a meeting with civic leaders to discuss tackling antisemitism at Downing Street on May 5, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Hannah McKay – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

1 2 3 4 Key takeaways 1Starmer said one of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state is behind the attacks.

2He announced £1.5m funding to strengthen community cohesion and protect Jews in at-risk areas.

3Ministers are “fast-tracking legislation” allowing them to ban state threats such as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

4Universities must publish the scale of antisemitism on campus and show how they are tackling it. 1 2 3 4 Go deeper on this topic The measures to protect the Jewish community come after the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green and a series of attacks at synagogues and other sites in recent months.

Starmer has faced criticism that he has not done enough to keep the community safe, and was heckled during a visit to the north London suburb on Thursday. Caption: TOPSHOT – Local residents look on from outside a cordoned off area in the Golders Green neighbourhood of north London on April 29, 2026, following the stabbing to two people nearby. Two people were stabbed on April 29 in north London, Jewish groups said, following a series of arson attacks targeting Jewish sites in the area. A man was arrested after he was seen running with a knife “attempting to stab Jewish members of the public”, the Shomrim Jewish neighbourhood watch said on social media. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP via Getty Images)

NEWS Everything we know about Golders Green stabbing suspect as he's named 7 min read 1 2 3 4 Starmer’s message to Iran One of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents…Our message to Iran, or to any other country that might seek to foment violence, hatred or division in society, is that it will not be tolerated. SiR KEIR STARMER, PRIME MINISTER Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 30: Prime Minister Keir Starmer (C) and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (CR) meet members of Shomrim, the Jewish community security organisation, in Golders Green following yesterday’s attack on April 30, 2026 in Golders Green, England. A 45-year-old British-Somali man was arrested yesterday, after stabbing two Jewish men, Shloime Rand and Moshe Shine, in a terrorist attack in Golders Green. Both victims are in a stable condition, and the suspect was caught by police after being tasered. The government has since pledged ??25 million to improve security for the Jewish community following the incident. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

1 2 3 Co-op is confident it’s stores will be ‘back to normal’ within days (Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters) NEWS The supermarket using invisible spray to combat shoplifting Co-op has been secretly marking frequently shoplifted groceries with a special forensic spray to tackle the resale of stolen goods.

Here’s how the invisible spray works, and how the company hopes it will make shoplifting less profitable. 1 2 3 What’s the story? Co-op has been marking items with an invisible spray that contains a unique forensic code linked to the shop where it was originally sold, according to Retail Gazette. Retail theft on the increase – woman stealing in UK supermarket. (Photo:

Caption: A shopper walks along an aisle inside a Tesco supermarket in Manchester, Britain, February 5, 2026 REUTERS/Phil Noble

Co-op has invested £250m in store security, including body-worn cameras for staff, reinforced kiosks for items such as spirits and tobacco, and shelf fixtures designed to stop thieves sweeping products into bags. 1 2 3 How does the scheme work? Where? The scheme has been trialled in Manchester and London and will be rolled out across the UK. Which items? High-risk items such as alcohol, laundry detergent and confectionary have been sprayed. Why? The aim is to help Co-op and the police identify where stolen products are being resold, making theft less profitable. NEWS Up to 12,000 prolific shoplifters could avoid jail under new law 2 min read 1 2 3 Photographer: skaman306

HEALTH The inflatable ‘gentle’ forceps for childbirth More than 300 babies have been born with inflatable forceps, the first breakthrough in childbirth assistance in decades.

It is hoped that the device, called the OdonAssist, could reduce birth trauma. It will be rolled out to 40 hospitals across Britain and Europe. 1 2 3 How new forceps could revolutionise childbirth Around one in eight people will have an assisted vaginal birth using forceps or vacuum extraction.

Women may have bleeding or tears and marks can be left on the baby.

Inflatable forceps work by surrounding the baby’s head with a soft air cuff, allowing doctors to help remove it more gently.

In trials, patients reported no or low pain in more than 95 per cent of births where OdonAssist was used. Analysis I'm an obstetrician – the four areas in NHS childbirth services that need fixing 5 min read 1 2 3 How ‘gentle’ forceps were invented From a prototype using a jar and a doll to development by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The OdonAssist was thought up by a mechanic in Argentina in 2006 called Jorge Odón.

He created the first prototype using a jar, a cloth and his daughter’s doll.

It was then taken up by Mario Merialdi, of the WHO, who refined the idea for clinical use.

It was created by Maternal Newborn Health Innovations, a public benefit corporation to help reduce avoidable pain.

Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin adviser now living abroad, told The i Paper the Russian President had become increasingly reclusive, with public appearances increasingly rare. He believes this is a result of growing Ukrainian threats and a decline in his domestic standing.

The main reason for Putin’s security fears is “increasing Ukrainian efficiency in terms of operations which they conduct in Russia – both targeted killings and attacks against Russian oil,” he said.

“Number two is growing displeasure with what’s going on in the country among Russian elites and the Russian population,” he added, pointing to a decline in Putin’s approval rating even with the state pollster, which found this had reached a wartime low of 65.6 per cent last month, down from around 80 per cent in 2022.

Putin’s approval ratings inside Russia have plummeted, polls have found (Photo: Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)

“He feels the amount of enemies inside the country is growing, including among the elites, so Ukrainians might easily find somebody who would want to target him inside the country,” said Gallyamov, adding that that the assassination of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by Israel and the US may have heightened Putin’s sense of insecurity.

The President’s staff are also said to have been made subject to new restrictions, with employees forbidden from using public transport or mobile phones with internet access.

The Kremlin is on high alert following the assassinations of prominent figures including Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, with the leaked intelligence report saying that his killing by car bomb in Moscow last December led to a heated meeting between intelligence chiefs to establish new security protocols.

The document also alleges there have been serious concerns over coup plots, with Security Council leader Sergei Shoigu said to be under suspicion following the arrest of one of his former aides on corruption charges.

A source with knowledge of Russian security agency activities said that coup plots were likely to be exaggerated, and suggested the European intelligence report could have been intended to destabilise the Kremlin. But they added that Putin has sought enhanced security because of his concerns over Ukrainian attacks, particularly with drones.

Damage to a high-rise residential building in Moscow following a drone attack on Monday (Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP)

Russian security media outlet Cheka reported that additional measures have been implemented around the Kremlin ahead of the annual Victory Day parade on Saturday, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany, and will go ahead without armoured vehicles for the first time in decades.

“There are checkpoints at the entrance to Moscow. Armoured vehicles and off-road vehicles with machine guns are back near the Kremlin,” the outlet reported. “There are also machine gunners on the Kremlin walls and towers.

“Special forces soldiers armed with machine guns, sniper rifles and special equipment are stationed on virtually every tower, wall and building in the Kremlin.”

Russia declared a temporary ceasefire with Ukraine ahead of the event following several successful drone attacks on Moscow over the past week, and threatened retaliation, were the parade to be disrupted, through a “massive missile strike on the centre of Kyiv”.

The Kremlin has imposed further restrictions on mobile-phone services over security concerns, with network operators warning customers to expect outages between Tuesday and the parade on 9 May. Disruptions were reported on Tuesday in Moscow and St Petersburg.

This follows restrictions earlier this year including bans on popular messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, which have drawn protests despite harsh wartime dissent.

Fashion blogger and model Victoria Bonya called out the Kremlin in a viral post (Photo: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

A Russian businessman in Moscow said the mobile restrictions were “pissing off about 95 per cent of the population” and many residents had gone back to using cash to get around disruptions to mobile payments.

The reasons for the restrictions have not been properly explained and are fuelling anti-war sentiment, added the businessman, who has been broadly supportive of the regime and the war.

“I don’t know where my country is going but definitely not in the right direction,” he said. “I think that everyone has been tired with the war for at least a year. Huge money is being wasted, good lads are getting killed, and it’s not going anywhere.”

The regime has faced several public shows of dissent in recent weeks. A previously pro-Kremlin blogger, Ilya Remeslo, recently denounced Putin as a “war criminal and a thief”. He was incarcerated in a psychiatric facility.

Fashion blogger and model Victoria Bonya raised concerns over problems including internet restrictions and rising inflation in a viral social media post last month that drew a rare response from the Kremlin, which said it was working on those issues.

Gallyamov suggested the episode indicated growing “politicisation of the public” that could spell trouble for Russia’s dictator.

Franak Viačorka, chief advisor to Belarus’ opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said Putin was right to fear for his future: “He realises that propaganda will not work forever – people are losing their sons in this war, and Ukraine is much more capable of carrying out strikes inside Russia. In dictatorships like Russia, change can happen unexpectedly.”

Prae_ on May 5th, 2026 at 22:59 UTC »

To be fair, i'm fairly certain if the Russian aren't trying, then the Ukrainians are. By assassins and/or missile/drones.

MeatPiston on May 5th, 2026 at 22:43 UTC »

To be fair being extremely paranoid has a good track record of efficacy for Russian dictators.

Jerswar on May 5th, 2026 at 22:32 UTC »

How actually reliable are these reports? I just want to know before I allow myself to enjoy them.