Reports suggest the Russian President is fearing a potential strike from Ukraine so he devised an elaborate plan to keep the official travel itinerary secret.
Few days ago, this was the first state visit organised by Putin to his ally Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, in three years.
Putin was accompanied by a large delegation from the Russian government including the Deference Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.
Russian state visits of this level are organised and usually fly out of Moscow, however, this trip was apparently arranged from St. Petersburg to avoid the Ukrainian border out of fear of a possible attack, Mirror reports.
To create confusion on the day of the flight, three planes of the same kind used to carry Russian presidential delegations took off at the same time. Aircraft used were Ilyushin Il-96s with reg RA-96022, RA-96014 and RA-96020.
Reportedly, a Russian fighter jet was scrambled to patrol the border with Ukraine, meanwhile, a Belarusian fighter helicopter was sent to meet and protect the incoming plane of Putin and his entourage.
