Several sources at the VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info confirmed reports of a cancelled trip abroad by Vladimir Putin. Moreover, it was canceled twice at the last minute. It can be assumed that, despite Peskov's statements, he was planning to attend the Peace Council in Washington, and the trip may have been cancelled because the US refused to accept $1 billion in frozen funds.
On Wednesday, our project's report was confirmed that Putin had returned to Moscow after a 10-day disappearance. That evening, he held a meeting with members of the government. However, what's interesting about this whole situation is something else: the cancellation of an important trip by the Russian leader.
According to sources, events unfolded as follows. On the eve of Putin's disappearance, his usual entourage on long trips was quarantined—the president was preparing to fly outside the Russian Federation. But then the order to stand down was given (Putin himself was vacationing in Russia).
Then, the staff and protocol team for long-distance travel were returned to quarantine, with the announcement that the chief's trip abroad would still take place. However, on February 16, the all-clear signal was given again – the long-distance trip would definitely not take place. Putin, however, returned to Moscow. No one knows where the trip was supposed to take him.
It seems most likely that Putin was planning to attend the Peace Council in Washington, where he was invited by Trump. A ticket to this event costs $1 billion. In January, Putin stated that Russia was ready to send $1 billion to the Peace Council, but from assets frozen by the US, and that "this issue had already been discussed with Washington representatives."
For literally the entire month of February, Russian officials publicly reminded the US that they had not received a response to Putin's offer to take $1 billion from frozen funds. And, apparently, they never lost hope that such a response would come until the very end. After the trip was finally cancelled, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov gave an interview to Al Arabiya TV, where he expressed frustration at the US's silence on the proposal to withdraw $1 billion from frozen funds.
"I heard that President Donald Trump, when he learned about this, reacted positively, saying it was a good idea. But since then, the Americans have in no way confirmed their president's assessment," Lavrov said in the interview.
