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Russian Federal Guard Service (FSO) agents accompanying Vladimir Putin abroad collect the president’s urine and fecal matter in bags and deliver them to Moscow in a special suitcase, according to Paris Match. Putin's personal guards are probably doing this to conceal information about the President's possible illnesses.

But perhaps this peculiar system of conspiracy is arranged somewhat differently, and all secret substances are destroyed immediately on the spot. And it was first reported to the world by a rather unexpected source.

In February 2020, the famous American comedy actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She was promoting the newly released Downhill movie starring her. While talking about filming it in Austria, the actress recalled a tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna arranged for the film crew. During this tour the museum staff told Louis-Dreyfus that prior to their visit Russian President Putin had come there. They revealed they had to set up a special private bathroom outside the museum for him to use when he needed to.

And Putin uses the same "porta-potty" as Louis-Dreyfus called it while traveling and on board his plane, museum staff said. "Like we're all that interested in his sh*t!" Louis-Dreyfus joked about this, comparing Putin to Dr Evil. She also added that all the fresh flowers had been removed from the museum's halls for Putin's sake.

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Putin was on a one-day visit to Austria on 5 June 2018. Seems ironic from today's perspective but the trip was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the start of Russian gas exports to Austria. During the trip Putin visited the Museum of Art History in Vienna. Together with the Austrian President, Russian President opened an exhibition of "Old Master Canvases from the Hermitage" at the renowned Viennese museum. The ceremony was sponsored by Russian state-owned Gazprom and Austrian oil and gas company OMV.

Putin and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (left) at the Museum of Art History in Vienna, June 2018

An acquaintance of Putin's who has worked with him in the past noted in an old conversation with Faridaily that the practice of taking his toilet to foreign trips has been around for years, and the Russian leader has been doing this since the beginning of his rule. While traveling around Russia, his guards have the option of clearing Putin's used facilities if needed; it is not convenient to do so abroad. At the 2019 Normandy summit in Paris, BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher counted six security guards accompanying Putin to the toilet.

Jonah Fisher @JonahFisherBBC

So I’m counting 6 people accompanying Vladimir Putin to the toilet...

Faridaily's source also revealed that if at any event Putin, say, drinks from a cup other than his (although at least in recent years Putin has mostly been drinking only from his famous thermos mug), his guards make sure no one takes that cup away. "Then it is either thoroughly wiped down and all traces are removed, or it is taken away. Fingerprints are also monitored if he has touched anything," he says. According to him, the president's biomaterials are protected as top-secret information.

"Access to them gives you a lot of information: you can decipher a person's DNA, find out about predisposition to hereditary diseases - Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, for example - whether they are sick now and what medications they take, what medications affect them, not to mention finding distant relatives or illegitimate children. This is a huge field for manipulation," explains Putin's acquaintance, while adding that many Western leaders also do not use hotel toilets on business trips.

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How Putin protects his biomaterials