Kremlin all but confirms Putin was in Sochi during drone attack — video
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Sept. 9 overnight
drone attack on Sochi did not affect Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s work
schedule, effectively
confirming he may have been in the area at the time, the independent outlet
Agentstvo reported.
Responding to a question about whether the drone strike
disrupted Putin’s agenda, Peskov said “nothing has changed” and his schedule
was “being carried out as planned.”
On Sept. 9, Putin had taken part via video link in an
emergency BRICS summit — from Sochi.
That same night, the city came under attack by drones.
Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of Krasnodar Krai in Russia, claimed debris from
one of the drones hit a car, killing a man. At least six private homes were
also damaged in the attack.
Russia’s civil aviation agency temporarily shut down Sochi
Airport from 2:38 a.m. to 3:06 a.m. Air raid sirens were heard across the city,
according to footage posted online.
Meanwhile, journalists from Agentstvo, citing Flightradar24
data, noted that an Il-96-300PU aircraft from the Rossiya presidential fleet —
tail number RA-96024 — which had landed in Sochi the day before, remained at
the city’s airport.
That same plane was used by the Russian dictator for his
trip to Alaska for a summit with US President Donald Trump.
Media outlets concluded that Putin may have remained in the
Sochi area during the attack.
Bocharov Ruchey, a government residence located in Sochi, is
where Putin previously stayed for weeks at a time. But after Ukrainian drones
began reaching the city, he largely stopped visiting. In Nov. 2024, when he
traveled to Sochi to take part in a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, he
reportedly stayed for just one day, spending the night aboard the aircraft.
In 2023, the dictator spent a record-low amount of time at
the residence. Agentstvo reported that Putin officially stayed in Sochi for
just eight days that year, compared to over 30 days annually before the
COVID-19 pandemic. He typically spent the most time in the city during May,
September, October and November.
Ukrainian drones first began reaching Sochi in Sept.–Oct.
2023, the journalists noted.
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