The area around Valdai, a small town between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, is picture-perfect — hills, lakes and birch forests. It is home to around 14,000 people, though local population figures are notoriously unreliable. There, Vladimir Putin keeps a lavish dacha, complete with its own spa complex. But locals rarely talk about it.
"I have no idea," one lifelong resident said when asked if she knew the Russian president had a pad nearby.
Mark Galeotti, a Russia expert and honorary professor at University College London, explained that discretion is one of the main security measures around Putin. He pointed to Putin’s special armoured train, deliberately made to look ordinary. "If you're in the know, you'll realise the track has been cleared and the unexpected bump on its roof is actually a radio," Galeotti said. "But if you're just a normal person, when you see this thing pass you're not going to say, 'Aha, Putin's on the move'."
Despite his strongman image, speculation swirls that today’s Putin is an ailing, isolated figure who relies on body doubles for public appearances. The Russian president no longer spends much time at Valdai, once his favourite residence among some 20 properties. With Ukraine’s drones now able to reach the area — despite aerial defences and protective nets — staying there has become too risky.