Putin Halts Visits To His Sochi Residence, Fearing Drone Attacks: Report

The anti-Kremlin Russian-language investigative news website Proekt has issued a fresh report which found that President Vladimir Putin has stopped visiting his residence in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi over fears for his safety, given the uptick in drone attacks from Ukraine which have targeted the region.

The Bocharov Ruchey state dacha is one of four main residences believed assigned to Putin. Constructed in 1934, and heavily remodeled in 1955, it was long a preferred vacation spot of Soviet leaders.

Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Sochi, Russia, in 2023.

It was last renovated for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and Putin has sometimes received foreign heads of state there, akin to how the US president uses Camp David. For example, President George W. Bush met with Putin at the Bocharov Ruchey in 2008.

Proekt’s investigators say that Putin’s use of the residence is at a record low for this year, after he “felt a threat to his physical safety” – especially in the wake of several drone attacks on Sochi from Ukraine in the fall of 2023.

The Amsterdam-based Moscow Times has written based on the Russian report, “Putin has been spending at least 30 days per year at the Bocharov Ruchey residence since it was renovated for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and likely stayed there throughout the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

But there’s also the possibility that he’s been avoiding the Sochi location due to new major construction at the complext: “Proekt’s investigation also revealed that the main building of the Bocharov Ruchey residence was completely demolished at the beginning of the year, giving way to a new construction project,” Moscow Times continues.

Throughout the Ukraine war, Kiev forces have become capable of sending drones deeper and deeper into Russian territory, sometimes many hundreds of kilometers away. The Kremlin believes this is being done with satellite and targeting help from the US and NATO.

A report issued this summer in Ukrainian media, and based on open source data, said that a Pantsir missile system has been positioned not far from Putin’s Sochi residence, offering special anti-air protection for the Russian leader and his guests.

The self-propelled surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system has frequently been used to protect sensitive infrastructure from airborne threats, also in and around Moscow.

The battery which protects Bocharov Ruchey is estimated to be about 15km from the compound itself. Currently, there’s a likelihood that Putin primarily stays and works from a location which is completely unknown to the outside world. This also after Ukrainian drones have targeted the Kremlin complex in Moscow.