Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motorcade during his visit to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana is accompanied by an armoured vehicle with a position for a machine gunner, a helicopter and a car that may be equipped with an electronic warfare system, the Russian independent publication “Agency” noted after studying videos published by journalists and eyewitnesses on social networks.
In addition to the motorcyclists, the convoy of vehicles was accompanied by a military vehicle. OSINT analyst Kirill Mikhailov told the publication that it was most likely an Alan armoured vehicle with a position for a machine gunner on the roof. A representative of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) research group said the vehicle looks like a regular armoured vehicle with a semi-enclosed machine gun turret with the machine gun removed.
Another vehicle has a roof-mounted structure that could be an electronic warfare system. On the evening of 27 May, Putin’s motorcade was also accompanied by a helicopter.
The press service of Kazakhstan’s president reported that from the moment Putin’s plane crossed the country’s border until it landed at Astana airport, it was escorted by fighter jets of the Air Defence Force.
In early May, “Important Stories” and a number of other media outlets published the findings of an unnamed Western intelligence agency that security measures around Putin had been stepped up because he feared an assassination attempt or coup attempt.
“The Agency” notes that state-run Russian news agencies TASS, RIA Novosti and Interfax have drastically reduced the amount of news about Putin since the beginning of the year, a consequence of the Russian president’s sharp decline in public activity.
The publication points out that Putin has almost stopped travelling around the country. His last trip outside the regions where the main presidential residences are located was a one-day visit to Samara on 6 November 2025. There was a pause in travelling abroad as well, but Putin interrupted it by visiting China and now Kazakhstan the other day.
Putin flew to Astana on 27 May. This is his second state visit to Kazakhstan since March 2024, Putin’s previous visit of this level to Astana was in November of the same year. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said it was intended to “emphasise the unprecedentedly high level of relations between our two countries”.
Putin said during his meeting with Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev that the countries’ relations had “reached the level of strategic partnership.” Tokayev said that “there are no controversial issues between Russia and Kazakhstan”, noted the growth of Russian investment and concluded that the countries are “friends” and “brothers”.