Private Jets Are Leaving Russia for Dubai After Putin Threatened to Purge Russian Society of Traitors
Sinead Baker Business Insider
Riot officers are deployed in the streets during a protest against the Ukraine invasion in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (photo: AFP/Getty Images)
20 March 22
- Four private jets went to Dubai from Russia on Thursday.
- It is not clear why those jets left, but many wealthy Russians are making efforts to leave.
- This week Putin pledged a "self-cleansing" of Russian society, seemingly targeted at the rich.
Danish analyst Oliver Alexander observed the four jets leaving Moscow for Dubai on Thursday morning using flight tracking service FlightRadar24. He described it as an "exodus."
Insider verified the routes the four jets took via flight-tracking websites.
It is not clear who was on board the planes or what reason they had for heading to Dubai, which, unlike Western destinations, has not banned Russian air traffic.
Private jets were also seen going from Russia to Israel earlier this month as Western sanctions on Russian oligarchs began to bite.
Thousands of people have tried to flee Russia since it started its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Insider previously reported, fearing what life there would be like as it is increasingly isolated from the rest of the world.
Some Russians who left told Insider's Sophia Ankel that they left because they were afraid of detention and other crackdowns in the country, and were also afraid of Russia's economic situations after so many countries implemented sanctions over the invasion.
Putin said in a speech on Wednesday that Russia has to undergo a "self-cleansing of society" following its invasion of Ukraine.
He said: "The collective West is attempting to splinter our society, speculating on military losses, on socioeconomic effects of sanctions, in order to provoke a people's rebellion in Russia."
He appeared to threaten people who were not supportive of the government: "But any people, the Russian people, especially, are able to distinguish true patriots from bastards and traitors and will spit them out."
"I am certain that this necessary and natural self-cleansing of society will only strengthen our country, our solidarity, togetherness, and our readiness to answer any calls to action," he continued.
In the speech, Putin appeared to have wealthy, pro-Western Russians in mind, highlighting those with properties in France or the US who are used to eating oysters and foie gras.
