VLADIMIR Putin's personal driver was assassinated by "foreign secret service agents", it has been sensationally claimed.

The unidentified man died when his BMW was smashed into by a Mercedes on a busy motorway in Moscow.

Now unsubstantiated claims posted on a pro-Putin website claim it was carried out by Western spies.

The presidential BMW was travelling on Kutuzovsky Avenue in the Russian capital when a Mercedes veered from the other side of the road, smashing into it head-on.

Putin was not in the car at the time, though Russian media report that the president's official driver was killed in the crash.