Putin Leaving Russia for First Time Since Prigozhin's Death, Kremlin Says

After being forced to cancel travel plans earlier this year after fears of being arrested over an international war crimes warrant, Vladimir Putin will reportedly be leaving Russia in the fall, according to Russian media.

Any trip he makes will be his first since the death of Wagner Group head, Yevgeny Prighozhin, who died in a plane crash on August 23.

Putin has only left Russia once since the International Criminal Court (ICC) found him guilty in March of the unlawful deportation of and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Moscow has denied the charges and insisted that it does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction.

State-owned news agency TASS wrote on Monday that Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin will make "several international trips" this fall.

Answering reporters' questions about Putin's travel commitments in light of the arrest warrant, Peskov said, as reported by TASS: "There are such plans. In the fall. We will inform you in due time."

He did not give any further details about exactly when and where Putin might be traveling.

"For obvious reasons, we don't want to announce this beforehand," he explained.

There's a possibility that Putin might travel to Turkey, as Peskov confirmed that the Russian president and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are set to hold a meeting.

"The [two presidents'] meeting will take place soon. We will make an official announcement in due time," Peskov said when asked about whether the two will meet in Russia and refusing to specify where the meeting will take place.

"There are certain agreements on when an announcement can be made, and we are set to stick to these agreements," Peskov added.

Tass also reported that an unamed diplomat in Turkey said that the two presidents might meet in Sochi, Russia, on September 4. It was not specified whether the official was Russian or Turkish.

A potential trip by Putin to NATO-member Turkey has been rumored since earlier this summer.

Putin has not stepped foot in a NATO country since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

In December last year, he visited Belarus—a close ally of the Kremlin, while in July he paid a short visit to Iran.

Earlier this month, Putin canceled his planned trip to South Africa and sent Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to attend the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24 on his behalf. The ICC arrest warrant has widely been cited as the reason behind his decision.

Though Turkey is a member of NATO, which has strongly condemned Putin's war in Ukraine, Erdogan has tried to play the role of an intermediary between Moscow and Kyiv, offering to negotiate peace talks.

In 2022 Erdogan brokered talks to grant the safe passage of grain from Ukrainian ports via the Black Sea. Russia withdrew from the plan on July 17 this year.

Turkey has also refused to impose sanctions on Russia, though it has supplied weapons to Ukraine. A potential visit to Turkey by Putin is likely to complicate the country's relations with the EU and the US.

Update, 8/28/23 14:37 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a new headline and more context.