Putin had ‘fled Moscow’ during Wagner’s mutiny, claims exiled oligarch

Russian President Vladimir Putin was out of town having “fled” when former pal Yevgeny Prigozhin tried to mount a coup, it has been claimed.

The Wagner Mercenary Group boss attempted the failed seizure of power, but the country’s leader had already skipped Moscow by plane, according to former top oligarch.

The former richest man in Russia and self-exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 60, told Newsweek how Putin had made his escape on June 24.

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He had been following events closely, the outlet reports and had learned from one of his contacts that Putin had likely fled to his suspected house in Valdai in between Russia's Tver and Novgorod regions some 250 miles clear of the capital.

This update is just the latest suggestion that the President was out of town, with aircraft tracking data also contributing to the belief that he was long gone.

Described as a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin, Khodorkovsky is a big voice in the criticism of Putin’s regime and has led calls for democratisation – despite being pardoned by the autocrat in 2013.

Khodorkovsky fell foul of the warmonger after criticising the levels of corruption in a televised meeting with Putin in 2003.

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Now based in London, he told the outlet: "We were monitoring Putin at that moment. And it looks like indeed, he did leave Moscow, and most likely went to Valdai to his residence.”

He noted also how a plane “only used by Putin” left Moscow on June 24 as the coup was underway and travelled to the Northwest of Russia, vanishing from flight trackers "somewhere around Valdai."

Newsweek reports the plane was seen on FlightRadar24 leaving Moscow at 2:16 pm before vanishing off the tracker at 2:39pm.

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