Kremlin Releases Video of Putin Speaking With Former Security Guard in Moscow Hotel

The Kremlin shared a video on Monday showing Vladimir Putin making small talk with an unidentified man in a hotel lobby in Moscow. Putin, 73, was dressed down with a small security detail while in the capital. The encounter took place during a planned meeting with his former teacher Vera Gurevich.

The man in the video said he was from Sochi. He joked that it was cold when they left Sochi and it was cold when they arrived in Moscow. They spoke briefly about the man's thoughts on the capital as onlookers filmed, before Putin headed back to his car with his teacher.

Independent Russian investigative outlet Agency identified the man as Alexander Bazarny. Bazarny worked as a security guard at Krasnodar company Gazstroy Bezopasnost and Moscow-based Svod International between 2010 and 2011. Svod International has since been renamed Gazprom Polyana.

Svod International managed the Achipse chalet near Krasnaya Polyana, dubbed Putin’s secret ski lodge. The Achipse chalet is officially owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom. The company also managed other luxury cottages in the area, including one belonging to Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast claimed to be Putin’s longtime companion.

Svod International holds a property trust for the Gazprom Mountain Resort Complex in Krasnaya Polyana. The Kremlin did not identify the apparent passer-by in its statement. It said Putin had invited Vera Gurevich to the annual Red Square parade on May 9 and to then spend a few days in Moscow enjoying a cultural programme.

Putin spoke at Moscow’s Victory Day parade on May 9. During the speech he vowed victory in Ukraine. Putin said he thought the war would soon end. The Financial Times reported earlier in May that Russia had stepped up security protocols for Putin.

The Financial Times reported that Putin was spending more time in underground bunkers micromanaging the war in Ukraine. Russian officials dismissed reports of Putin spending time in bunkers as nonsense. Russia’s state Duma lower house of parliament is up for re-election in September.

The president’s ratings have dipped in recent months but remain high according to state pollsters. The video cast Putin as a popular president relating to his public even as Western media outlets reported recently that he had spent weeks holed up in bunkers over fears of an assassination attempt or uprising.