Before meeting with Trump, Putin planned to visit Kamchatka

The trip was postponed due to “volcanic activity” and “unpreparedness of the governor”

Vladimir Putin postponed to a later date his visit to Kamchatka, which he could have made on his way to a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska, sources in the Far East and in the presidential administration told Vorstka.

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A trip to Kamchatka was on the president’s work schedule

According to them, the trip to Kamchatka has been postponed indefinitely. “It [the trip] was really on the president’s schedule. For now, it has been transferred from it,” a source in the presidential administration told Vorstka. An interlocutor in the Far Eastern Federal District claims that Putin could visit the peninsula on his way to a meeting with Trump. Near the Kamchatka city of Elizovo, according to him, is the “closest airport to Alaska”, suitable for a stopover for Russian Air Force One.

Military aviation is also based at this airfield along with civilian aviation. Local authorities officially opened the new airport terminal building in the spring, and the Governor of the Kamchatka Territory, Vladimir Solodov, even personally invited Putin to its opening. However, several local interlocutors of “Verstka” said that the air harbor is “full of imperfections”, and “around and inside it there is still, in fact, a construction site.”

Putin's visit could boost the ratings of Governor Vladimir Solodov

“Of course, you can try to hide all this from the First [some Russian officials call Putin that way]. But it’s easier to just reschedule the visit,” said Vorstka’s interlocutor in the regional government. According to him, the governor has accumulated managerial failures and “serious problems with his rating” on the eve of the elections. “Vova the President would greatly help Vova the Governor with his appearance,” the source added.

A political strategist collaborating with the Kremlin also told Vorstka that Solodov’s rating was “seriously sagging” and a meeting with Putin was in the plans, and the reason for its cancellation could be the most serious seismic activity on the peninsula in the last 70 years. “A meeting with Putin is being discussed if it fits into the schedule; a meeting during a visit to Alaska was an option,” he noted.

According to the interlocutor, Putin’s visit to Kamchatka could still take place, but in early September, as part of the annual Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok and if the volcanic situation “is favorable.”

At the same time, another interlocutor of “Vestka” notes that there is currently no real threat to the security of the head of state. “Who knows what security requirements they have there? But the civil airport is operating stably, and the city is not in danger yet,” he noted.

On the afternoon of July 30, an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 8 occurred in the sea near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, followed by several dozen aftershocks. At the same time, all seven major volcanoes awoke on the peninsula, including Avachinsky, located 30 km in a straight line from the capital of the region.

On August 15, Putin will meet with Trump in Alaska

The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is scheduled for August 15 in Alaska . Among the possible reasons for choosing this place, logistics may be simple for the Russian president - it is the closest American state to Russia and the only one with a common border with it.

The exact place, time and composition of the delegations are not disclosed by either side. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the state is ready to host the meeting. Trump has already stated that as a result of the negotiations, an agreement on an “exchange of territories” of Ukraine could be reached: part of the already captured pieces of the Kharkov and Sumy regions of the Russian Armed Forces are allegedly ready to cede in exchange for the well-fortified and defended agglomeration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, the last large settlements under the control of Ukraine in the Donetsk region.

Photo: Volcanic eruption in Kamchatka in 2024. Viktor Frolov via Reuters Connect

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