Vladimir Putin for the second time in a week cancelled at the last minute a trip inside Russia.
He today abandoned a visit to Pskov close to his border with NATO states Estonia and Latvia.
The move is likely to increase speculation about his health, or concerns over his security.
Officially the reason was “unfavourable flying conditions” for the 180 mile routing from St Petersburg.
Yet both airports remained open to incoming and departing flights.
Pictures of Pskov showed clear skies.
Last Friday he was reported to have aborted at the last minute a visit to a major tank plant in Nizhny Tagil, in the Urals, despite intense preparations for the visit.
At the time there was speculation over his health being the cause of the visit being cancelled.
Today he had been due to visit the Titan-Polymer plant and meet with Pskov region Governor Mikhail Vedernikov, but instead conducted the session virtually from St Petersburg.
Putin has also cancelled his usual appearance at an end of year meeting of his government ministers, scheduled for today, and an annual ice hockey match.
And he refused to go-ahead with his traditional December press conference, which often lasted four hours or more.
Nor did he make an expected annual address this month to the Federal Assembly.
Putin - rumoured to be suffering from cancer and other ailments - this week did attend a meeting of leaders from ex-Soviet states in St Petersburg.
But the formal session was shorter than usual - and the event was characterised by bizarre events.
First, Putin was seen as acting like Sauron from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings by having nine rings made.
These ‘rings of power’ were for himself and the other leaders in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Only Belarus tyrant Alexander Lukashenko wore his ring as Putin was mocked over the rings which seemed a symbol of the other leaders being bound to him.
Embarrassed, Putin did not even wear the ring he had made for the event.
"No need to focus on the rings, this is just a kind of a New Year’s gift, there is nothing special there,” insisted his spokesman after the debacle.
Second, Putin took his fellow leaders for a meal at a nightspot called Leningrad Centre famed for “erotic” shows which is reportedly owned by his ex-mistress.
His ex-lover is Svetlana Krivonogikh, 47, a former cleaner who is now one of Russia’s richest women with a banking and property empire.
She is also the mother of Putin’s love child Elizaveta Vladimirovna Krivonogikh, aka Luiza Rosova, 19, born during his first term as president, a student whose public social media profile vanished ahead of the start of the war in Ukraine.
The leaders were treated to dinner at the controversial venue, say reports, although no pictures have emerged.
It is unclear what entertainment was offered but Project Media earlier disclosed how the centre offered a cabaret called ‘Love Sick’, described as “the most challenging and frank show.”
Blurb for the show boasted: ”Each number, like a naked nerve, is built on contrasts, where there is a place for sex and rock and roll.”
The organisation is currently riven by disagreements, not least over his war in Ukraine.
The leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan were among those hosted by Putin at the centre.
The nitespot is famed for “an erotic show featuring acrobatics, half-naked satyr dances, and a girl lying in bed dressed only in a negligee.”
According to the Project report, Svetlana Krivonogihk - whose surname means ‘Bow-legged’ in Russian - has business assets in Moscow, St Petersburg and Sochi worth $102 million.
Putin was in a “bad mood” after the failure of the CIS meeting, with leaders of ex-Soviet states not giving him the backing he wanted, said Telegram channel General SVR.
He was “extremely dissatisfied and disappointed”.
