During his visit to St Petersburg, Vladimir Putin stopped his motorcade after visiting the Admiralty and stepped out to greet the people waiting in the street. According to «The Agency», citing reports from the Kremlin press pool, the interaction lasted approximately 40 seconds. This is the second such incident in the last month and a half.
Briefly about the main points
- Putin appeared before the public following his visit to the Admiralty.
- The conversation near the motorcade lasted about 40 seconds.
- The previous street protest took place in June in Kazan.
- A video of the incident appeared on Telegram two hours later.
- «The Agency» links the frequency of such incidents to times of crisis.
A brief meeting and a delay with the video
The RIA Novosti Kremlin press pool’s Telegram channel reported that the motorcade had stopped and that Putin had stepped out to address the crowd. The «Russia 1» television channel reported that he had stepped out of the car without his jacket.
According to a video published by a correspondent from the Kremlin press pool Pavlo Zarubin, outside the car Putin It lasted about 40 seconds in total. The first reports of the meeting appeared at 20:33, whilst the video itself was not published on Telegram until 22:33. The «agency» notes that, as a result, the incident went almost unnoticed by many media outlets.
The second release since June
Before his trip to St Petersburg, Putin last appeared in public on the streets in June, during a visit to Kazan. The previous such occasion was in July 2025 — also in St Petersburg, during Navy Day.
Following the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Putin’s first recorded public appearance took place in September 2022 in Kaliningrad. In March 2023, he spoke to residents of the temporarily occupied city of Mariupol during a night-time visit.
Periods of frequent public appearances
According to the «Agency’s» estimates, more frequent street protests began following the uprising Evgeny Prigozhin in June 2023. A few days later, Putin addressed the public in Derbent; in July, in Kronstadt; in August, in the Kursk Region; and on 1 September, in the Tver Region.
In 2024, he spoke to people for the first time six days after murders Alexei Navalny: 22 February — near one of the villages in Chuvashia. Subsequently, similar incidents took place in Stavropol and Torzhok; the latter occurred five days after the terrorist attack at «Crocus City Hall». That summer, Putin addressed the public on 18 and 26 June and on 20 August.
«The Agency» points out that the statement on 26 June came after a double terrorist attack in Dagestan, whilst the August meeting took place two weeks after the start of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ operation in the Kursk region. This does not prove a direct link between a specific crisis and each appearance, but it does point to a similar frequency of such public gestures during periods of tension for the Kremlin.
Against the backdrop of the issues reported by «The Agency»
According to the publication, the current developments are taking place against the backdrop of a series of crises linked to the war against Ukraine: an environmental disaster in the Black Sea, a logistical blockade of Crimea, fuel crisis and blows to Wildberries. «The Agency» also reports a fall in the approval ratings of the Russian authorities, particularly Putin.
Brief interactions with the crowd can be a way for a leader to publicly demonstrate their closeness to the public. At the same time, the format used in St Petersburg — less than a minute of interaction and a delay in the release of the video — significantly limited its visibility.
