"Stay away, Putin is coming" PHOTO/VIDEO

The restrictions were introduced during Putin’s visit to the Siberian city and were reported by The Moscow Times, citing the regional news outlet Nemoskva.

A notice reportedly distributed to residents of apartment buildings on Bolshevitskaya Street by a property management company urged them to “refrain” from leaving their homes while the presidential motorcade was passing through. Residents were also instructed not to approach windows, not to use electronic or optical equipment, and not to leave vehicles on the street. The notice said the measures had been introduced at the direction of security services and urged residents to take the recommendations seriously in order to “avoid unpleasant situations.”

Similar instructions were given to students living in dormitories at Novosibirsk State University, the Kyiv Post reported. Movement around the university campus was restricted, while barriers normally used for crowd control appeared near the new buildings of the university’s research and education center. The rental of electric scooters was also restricted across much of Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk’s academic district, as well as on several central streets. Local media reported that scooter operators had marked large areas as no-ride or no-parking zones.

Putin arrived in Novosibirsk during the night of August 11. Police officers began taking up positions along his expected route, spaced about 50 meters apart, as early as Monday evening.

A large number of traffic police officers were also deployed along Bolshevitskaya Street, one of the main thoroughfares near the center of Novosibirsk.

Ahead of Putin’s arrival, city officials were busy repairing roads, sidewalks and building facades, as well as laying new grass, local media reported.

Putin was scheduled to visit the Siberian Circular Photon Source, known as SKIF, located in the nearby science city of Koltsovo, as well as the university campus in Akademgorodok.

SKIF is a major scientific complex built around a synchrotron radiation source and designed for research in physics, chemistry, biology and materials science.

Today’s visit was Putin’s first to Novosibirsk since 2018. It followed a series of regional trips by the Russian president after months during which he rarely left Moscow and St. Petersburg. In recent weeks, he has also visited Kazan, Irkutsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk and Ulan-Ude.