Vladimir Putin stopped his motorcade during a visit to Novosibirsk and stepped out to greet a crowd of local residents, mostly children, who had gathered by the road. Video of the encounter was published by VGTRK propagandist Pavel Zarubin.
Witness footage shows the motorcade halted next to an empty Teboil gas station with its fuel price display switched off. According to Sibirsky Express, the station had run out of fuel at the time.
The Telegram channel Incident Novosibirsk reported that children had begun gathering at the spot long before the motorcade passed — some waited more than two hours. Drivers stopped on a nearby closed-off street waited about as long, according to Govorit NeMoskva.
On the day of Putin's visit, gas stations selling at the highest prices stopped dispensing fuel, the outlet NDN.Info reported: the Tatneft and Grand chains, where AI-95 had cost 125 and 148 rubles per liter the day before, halted sales. The same chains switched off price displays at stations along the motorcade route. Other gas stations continued operating unchanged. A source quoted by the outlet Vot Tak claimed that prices at city stations were temporarily reduced on the day of the visit.
Novosibirsk residents complained of traffic jams caused by street closures. Security forces told students in Akademgorodok and residents of buildings along the motorcade route not to look out their windows. Putin was accompanied by armed men in camouflage.
Ahead of the visit, workers hastily relaid asphalt, laid turf and repaired facades in the city center, local residents said. The Kremlin press service often publishes footage of Putin spontaneously talking with people during trips; such videos frequently turn out to be staged.