Russian President Vladmir Putin’s official presidential BMW was involved in a head-on crash in Moscow. The president’s favorite chauffeur has been killed after a Mercedes Benz crashed into BMW. The President was not in the car at the time of the crash while the driver of the Mercedes is said to be in a hospital in a critical condition.
Presidential black BMW was at Kutuzovsky Avenue in the Russian capital on September 2, 2016, when a Mercedes Benz from the opposite side of the road crashed head on into it. The President’s official driver was killed instantly while the entire series of events has been captured on CCTV footage.
As per the video, the driver of Mercedes CLS lost control of his car and swerved into the oncoming traffic lane where he collided with Putin’s BMW 7 Series at high speed.
The black BMW is officially registered and belongs to the Federation Council, also known as Russian Senate or Upper Chamber of Parliament. The driver of the BMW who was not named, had over 40 years of experience as an official driver. Police are investing the case further and will reveal details in due course while the accident caused a huge traffic jam in the area following which the Kutuzovsky Avenue was closed, while clean up operations took several hours to clear.
President Putin will be the first recipient of the newly designed Kortezh by the end of 2017. This is a bomb, bullet and gas proof vehicle and strikingly similar to the Beast, armour plated vehicle used by US President Barak Obama.
The Kortezh will be made available to the public only by 2018 and will be offered in SUV, limo, sedan and minivan variants. The Kortezh will receive doors which are ten times thicker than regular car doors while it will sport its own oxygen supply system.
UPDATE
New Video has emerged which shows how and when the Mercedes driver lost control.
