Vladimir Putin has reportedly retreated to a 'secret palace' as protests erupt across Russia

According to the DailyMail, Vladimir Putin has retreated to a secret palace in Lake Valdai, situated halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The report by Daily Mail cites Russian journalist Farida Rustamova who claims, in a Telegram post, that he has already left last Wednesday and will be away at least until this Thursday.

‘Resting body and soul’

The palace itself has been secretive until 2021 when an Anti-Corruption Foundation team which is led by imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny took drone footage of the complex and described the luxurious amenities for the public in one of their documentaries, Business Insider reports.

The palace boasts a 7,000 square meter relaxation area including a three-storey SPA fully equipped with a specialist float-pool that keeps you buoyed due to its high salty water, a cyro chamber for cold therapy, mud baths, and a beauty parlour.

Further, the same report cites Navalny’s group in describing the amenities which also include a stable, golf-course, a VIP restaurant with a cinema, bowling and billiard rooms, and a mini-casino.

Away from the chaos ensued by the anti-war protests

Putin has chosen a tumultuous time in Russia for his vacation. Retreating in a luxurious secretive complex in the Valdai hills overlooking the Valdai lake while reservists are being recruited and taken to Russian Army boot camps.

According to Metro, the Kremlin’s PR team has arranged a number of pre-recorded videos of meetings which either have been or will be released by state media over this period with the aim of masking his absence from the public

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail resonates with the claims of the independent monitoring groupOVD-Info, that anti-draft protests continue to erupt across Russia. According to their latest tally, 700 people were detained on Sunday for protesting in the major Russian cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita and Ivanovo, etc.

Sources used:

-Daily Mail: ‘Panicking Putin 'vanishes to his secret forest palace with its own personal beauty parlour' amid anti-war demos in Moscow’

-Business Insider: ‘Putin has escaped to a secret palace in a forest amid anti-draft protests in Russian cities, report says’

-Metro: ‘Putin ‘vanishes to secret palace’ as wave of protests spread through Russia’

- Farida Rustamova's Telegram post

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