PHOTOS: Putin escapes to secret palace amid anti-draft protests – report

The journalist also claimed that the president had pre-recorded several videos of meetings, which Russian state media intends to release sporadically throughout the week, to try and mask his absence from the public.

Rusamova said that Putin left for his palace the day a video was released, showing him announcing partial military mobilization on Wednesday.

Widespread protests broke out across Russia after Putin announced that 300,000 reservists would be ordered to fight in the country's war on Ukraine.