Putin to self-isolate after Covid cases detected among his entourage

Vladimir Putin will go into self-isolation after cases of the new coronavirus were detected in his entourage.

This means that the 68-year-old Russian President will not travel to Tajikistan this week for regional security meetings, the Kremlin said.

He was due to travel to meet Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon to talk about the rapid deterioration of security in Afghanistan.

The meetings are to involve regional alliances in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The Kremlin said in a statement that Mr Putin called Mr Rakhmon to explain he could not travel due to self-isolation, and that he would take part in the meetings via video link instead.

“Putin said that due to cases of coronavirus in his entourage, he has to observe a self-isolation regime for a certain period of time,” the Kremlin said..

The Russian leader has had two doses of his country’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine.

The self-isolation comes after Mr Putin met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad yesterday (13 September) in Moscow.

Mr Putin congratulated him on beating the “terrorists” to win May’s presidential election.

The Kremlin quoting him as saying to Mr al-Assad: “Terrorists had sustained a very serious damage, and Syrian government, headed by you, controls 90 per cent of the territories.”

The meeting between the two leaders was their first since a summit in Syrian capital Damascus in January 2020, and was the first meeting in the Russian capital since 2015.