Russian report claims Putin is secretly working at a duplicate office in seaside resort

Putin works at his home office
(Image credit: Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a visible presence during Russia's COVID-19 pandemic, but only on TV, shown working from his office at his official residence outside Moscow. Few people have seen Putin in person since March, and those who are allowed into his office have to first quarantine for two weeks then walk through a tunnel that sprays a fine mist of antiseptics, Russian journalists say. But the investigative news organization Proekt reported last week that Putin's isolated workaholism isn't all that it appears.

Putin, a former spy, has actually been working at an identical office set up at his residence in Sochi, a resort town and popular vacation destination on the Black Sea, Proekt reports, citing anonymous sources plus presidential plane flight logs and other circumstantial evidence. Putin's office denied the report, The New York Times notes. "The president has many offices and no identical offices," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists last week, claiming that the Proekt report and other exposés about Putin's personal life are an "information campaign, an information attack."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.