FX.co ★ Who is best protected: the most protected first persons of the state
Who is best protected: the most protected first persons of the state
Fumio Kishida
Fumio Kishida, who has been Japan's prime minister for less than a year, until recently he was accompanied by armored vehicles. At the same time, the roads were not blocked, thanks to which the cortege merged with the general flow of cars. The guards, in turn, leaned out of the windows of cars and stopped other cars with gestures.
After the assassination attempt on Shinzo Abe, Fumio Kishida's predecessor, gross violations were revealed in the work of the Japanese Prime Minister's security service. Given Kishida's categorical nature, he should be better guarded than the former prime minister.
Alassane Ouattara
The President of Côte d'Ivoire, re-elected in 2020 for a third term, is protected by a truly huge number of bodyguards and the military, shielding even his armored car from bullets with their bodies. How much they are paid for this is unknown.A descendant of the royal family, Alassane Ouattara achieved the presidency after a bloody civil war, defending the rights of ethnic minorities for several decades.
Pope Francis
The Swiss Guard, which provides security for the head of the Catholic Church and the sovereign of the Vatican, was formed as early as 1506. The guards of Francis I, dressed in ancient armor and armed with spears, also have firearms hidden in case of need.
The Pope often appears before the faithful, moving on the so-called popemobile. The security of the pontiff during his communication with the parishioners depends almost entirely on the guards.
Elizabeth II
It's no secret that the UK's Queen Elizabeth II and her large family spend huge sums from the state budget on ensuring the safety, but UK taxpayers can afford it.
The 96-year-old monarch in the royal residences is guarded by a special guard unit, consisting of infantry and cavalry. The guard service is carried out around the clock, and in the late hours the guards patrol the territory of the palace. Elizabeth's personal bodyguards include dozens of security guards and MI5 agents. The departures of the monarch, rare in recent times, are accompanied by motorcades of cars, motorcycles and helicopters.
The queen herself is easy to spot in the crowd thanks to her bright clothes, and all members of the royal family wear special watches that allow them to signal danger.
Vladimir Putin
The security of the President of the Russian Federation, as well as the Prime Minister, speakers of the State Duma and the Federation Council, ministers, etc., is provided by the Federal Security Service.The departures of the head of state are accompanied by 5-7 special vehicles and 3-4 traffic police cars. Hundreds of employees are on duty throughout the route.
The security unit of thhe FSO numbers up to 50,000 people, about whom almost nothing is known. These are «art critics in civilian clothes» (KGB officers who monitor the creative intelligentsia) and «men in black» (fighters with light and heavy small arms). They rarely get into the camera lens and do not allow any incidents, and sometimes stop threats to other leaders at international meetings.
Thus, in 2019, Vladimir Putin's bodyguard kept Xi Jinping from falling off the stage at the SPIEF in St. Petersburg. And during negotiations between the leaders and prime ministers of the Russian Federation and the United States in Geneva in 2021, Russian security officials had to work hard, holding back a crowd of reporters seeking to get into the Oval Office, where Putin, Biden, Lavrov and Blinken were negotiating.
Xi Jinping
The guards of the Central Guard Bureau (CGB), responsible for the security of the President of the People's Republic of China, as well as all other important figures of the Celestial Empire, must not only have good physical training, but also confirm their unconditional political reliability. It is also mandatory to handle at least 8 types of weapons and be able to shoot «in Macedonian» - with both hands.
In 2021, Xi Jinping stepped up his own security measures, increasing the number of his closest bodyguards to 8 and his bodyguards to 12. The total strength of the newly revamped The Central Guard Unit now exceeds 8,000 men, each armed with 3 pistols and 2 knives.
The Chinese leader personally selects the bodyguards from among the best special forces soldiers. They report to Wang Shaojun, Major General of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA).
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Erdogan's departuresin a bulletproof bus are accompanied by many cars with armed guards and snipers (even on the roof of cars) along the entire route. At public events, hundreds of guards stand in the crowd.
The Turkish politician’s guards have no rules: hot-tempered security agents often beat up ordinary citizens who get in their way, start brawls at major events, refuse to be screened at airports, threatening law enforcement officers with weapons, or attack another president's guards, both in their homeland and in other countries.
It is known that in 2017, the Washington police issued an arrest warrant for the Turkish president's guards for beating demonstrators near the residence of the Turkish ambassador in Washington during Erdogan's May visit to the United States.
Joe Biden
Joe Biden is one of the most heavily guarded American presidents in history. The head of security and responsible for preventing threats to the 46th President of the United States is David Cho, a Korean-American Secret Service agent. All those who encroach on the life and health of his boss face a sentence of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Due to his advanced age, the US leader is also vulnerable to the coronavirus, which he can contract from his own guards. There is also a high risk of falls and fractures. Responsible for the politician's health and the operation of another security system is his personal physician, Kevin O'Connor.
The head of the US has the most expensive car escort in the world. It includes an armored 10-ton limousine for $1.5 million and 50 vehicles with various functions.
Kim Jong-un
The North Korean leader has a personal secret service of 15,000 men and an army of over 100,000 subordinate only to him.
Kim Jong-un's reverent and often paranoid attitude to his security is largely due to his closed nature and belief in his own sacred purpose. He almost gets on planes and very rarely leaves North Korea, mostly to neighboring countries. The presidential motorcade consists of armored vehicles and guards on motorcycles. The rest run alongside the cortege.
The DPRK is armed with tanks, missile and air defense systems. Trying to protect his regime, Kim Jong-un brutally suppresses any potential threats.
