Putin leaves Moscow and St. Petersburg for the first time in seven months — to stage a walkabout in Kazan

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazan on June 17 for a two-day visit to attend the Russia–ASEAN summit — his first trip outside Moscow and St. Petersburg in seven months, according to the independent Russian political newsletter Faridaily.

Putin’s previous regional trip had been to Samara, in November 2025.

Putin has all but stopped leaving Moscow on regional trips. From January through May, he officially left Moscow only twice, and both times his destination was St. Petersburg. Over the same period in 2025, he made eight regional trips. In 2024, there were 14; in 2019 — before the war and the COVID-19 pandemic — there were 17.

A Faridaily source close to the Kremlin attributed Putin’s reluctance to travel to security concerns.

The independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo reported that during the visit, Putin went out and met people on the street. “He has repeatedly used this tactic when things get tough,” Agentstvo journalists wrote. In the same report, they added: “This time, the president appeared before the public amid falling approval ratings and problems at the front.”

Putin moved through the crowd flanked by security personnel and camouflaged soldiers. Analysts at the Conflict Intelligence Team, an OSINT group, say the president was most likely accompanied by Federal Protective Service FSO special forces.

In May, the Russian investigative outlet iStories, CNN, and the Financial Times reported that the FSO had tightened its security measures around Putin because he feared an assassination attempt. The three outlets cited an intelligence report from a European country. The report said Putin was spending several weeks at a time in upgraded bunkers.