Russian President Vladimir Putin has moved his flagship foreign policy conference from Sochi to Moscow Oblast amid growing concerns over Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes, the Financial Times reported on 15 September.
The decision is likely an indirect acknowledgment of the impact of Ukraine’s ongoing deep-strike drone campaign. Russian officials may not publicly admit that Ukrainian drones pose a serious threat, but their actions suggest otherwise: Putin has increasingly avoided areas within range of Ukrainian drones, and now a major Kremlin event is being moved out of Sochi because of security concerns.
The annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting was originally planned for Sochi, but the venue was changed after Putin’s security service insisted on the move, according to four people familiar with the decision cited by the FT. Some 120 guests had already received invitations to the Black Sea resort before being informed of the change in August.
Putin has not visited Sochi since the Valdai conference there in early October 2025. Since then, Ukraine has significantly stepped up its long-range drone campaign against Russia. The change is stark compared with 2021, when Putin visited the Black Sea resort 24 times, according to the FT.
Ukraine is targeting the defenses behind Russia’s rear
Ukraine has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to strike targets in Russia’s rear. Its drones have reached energy and logistics infrastructure thousands of kilometers from Ukraine, while Sochi and other areas of Russia’s Black Sea coast have come under repeated attack.
The latest strike came on 13–14 September, when Ukraine’s Defense Forces hit the 92N6 multifunction radar of a Russian S-400 air defense system in Sochi, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. The radar tracks aerial targets and guides the S-400’s missiles, making it a critical component of the system defending the area.
The strike followed a 4 September Ukrainian attack on Sochi that hit two fuel depots and an air defense position near the Abkhazia border. Satellite imagery later showed nine destroyed fuel storage tanks and damage at the air defense position.
Putin’s movements show the threat is changing
The relocation also fits a broader pattern in Putin’s movements. The Russian president has spent much of his time in Moscow, St Petersburg and his residence near Lake Valdai in Novgorod Oblast, while making more trips east of the Urals – areas farther from Ukraine’s long-range drone reach.
The Valdai forum will still take place from 28 September to 1 October, but now in Moscow Oblast rather than Sochi. Putin traditionally attends the final day and holds a lengthy question-and-answer session.
The Kremlin does not need to say Ukrainian drones are a serious threat. Moving Putin’s major foreign-policy forum away from Sochi says it for them.
