• Putin’s visit to Mariupol and Rostov-on-Don was spontaneous and not planned said Peskov.
• Putin was filmed visiting Mariupol and meeting people.
• Who appeared shocked in government-released video.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is controlled by Russia, had “spontaneous” elements, according to Dmitry Peskov.

Putin was filmed visiting Mariupol and meeting people who appeared shocked in government-released video.

Peskov said that Putin had a conversation with several nearby inhabitants of an apartment building before deciding to accept one of the residents’ invitations to visit one of the flats.

“Initially, the president just had planned to tour the residential complex. Putin’s conversation with locals and visit to an apartment weren’t scheduled. It was entirely impromptu, according to Peskov.

Peskov claimed that the journey was overnight.

“There was a very compact group of cars with the president. In one of them, he himself was a driver. And the cars drove around Mariupol — and the president drove around the city, looked at everything — completely adhering to all the traffic rules,” Peskov said.

Peskov claimed that Putin’s travel to a military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don was also not planned. According to the spokeswoman, the president went to one of the military report sessions there.

“This trip was also not planned in advance, either. No one planned this trip either nor through the presidential administration, or through special services, or through the Ministry of Defense,” Peskov told reporters.

Some background: Putin and the Kremlin have a reputation for planning meticulously orchestrated outings that serve, in part, to highlight the president’s strength.

His overnight stay in Mariupol is his first visit to the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of that country.

The International Criminal Court recently issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova in connection with an alleged plot to deport Ukrainian children to Russia, which is when news of the trip broke.

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