VLADIMIR Putin has ordered randy Russians living near the Ukraine border to stop using dating apps amid spying fears.
He thinks Kyiv will harvest the personal data stored on the lonely hearts sites to use during its invasion of Russia.
It comes as Ukraine attacked Moscow yesterday with at least 11 drones in what Russia said was one of the biggest strikes on its capital since the war began.
Officials said a total of 45 drones were shot down over Russian territory.
President Putin’s Department for Combating Illegal Use of Information Technology issued the dating app ban to those in Russian regions Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk.
Ukraine currently occupies about 440 square miles of Kursk following its counter invasion on August 6.
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Now, Russia, which sparked the war by invading Ukraine in 2022, has warned its troops in the region of the threat of being snared by women on matchmaking sites.
They were warned: “The use of online dating services is strongly discouraged.
“The enemy actively uses such resources for information gathering.”
Residents in the border regions have also been told not to publish videos from dash cam recorders in their cars, as Ukraine’s military could use them “to calculate the movements of equipment and personnel”.
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Putin’s security agents and military personnel were also told to disable certain functions on popular online messenger Telegram and not to “open links from strangers”.
And citizens were ordered to delete all photos and videos which might indicate a friend or relative was an FSB security service officer or in the armed forces.
Vladimir Putin is 'rattled' by invasion
By Owen Leonard
VLADIMIR Putin has been labelled "hesitant" and "rattled" as the Russian tyrant grapples with Ukraine's surprise invasion.
Kyiv's troops launched a shock offensive into the Kursk region last week ruffling the president's feathers.
Footage has since emerged of a nervous Vlad addressing Russia's security and defence chiefs.
He appears unsteady as he twitches and rubs his hands together.
International Institute for Strategic Studies senior researcher Nigel Gould-Davies said the 71-year-old looked "rattled".
Gould-Davies wrote on X: "Putin discussing Ukraine’s incursion into Russia, which he says the West is behind.
"He looks and sounds not angry, outraged, determined — but hesitant and rattled."
Body language pro Professor Erik Bucy told The Sun that Putin was uncharacteristically speaking with "a halting and unconvincing delivery".
He said: "These clips of Putin depict a leader who has been knocked off balance.
"He comes across as both nonchalant and unconvinced by what he is saying, like a salesman reading a prepared script for the first time.
"For a warlord intent on dominating Ukraine and other neighbouring countries, Putin seems uncharacteristically subdued and preoccupied.
"Lacking conviction, he is clearly just reading whatever someone had just put in front of him."