Vladimir Putin and his closest friends are understood to have fled Moscow to his secret bunker after the Wagner mercenary coup.
The Russian capital remains under a terror alert tonight after Wagner group troops stormed barricades and seized control of other cities, like Rostov-on-Don.
But Putin, who has effectively been in charge of Russian politics since 1999, is supposedly in his mansion in the Valdai area of the nation.
Two Russian presidential jets have flown from Moscow in the direction of St Petersburg. They are believed to have carried top Kremlin officials including the president.
They also switched off transponders to prevent tracking the route.
"Putin is hiding in the bunker of his residence in Valdai. His closest friends and associates also flew there," Putin's foe and businessman Leonid Nevzlin said tonight.
"The dictator is in a panic. Additional troops advanced towards Valdai to protect it. This has just been reported by my sources."
Nevzlin is a vocal critic of Russian government and Putin who renounced his Russian citizenship in 2022 over the war.
Upon his renouncement of citizenship, he said: "Everything that Putin touches dies. Russian citizenship itself has become a mark of disgrace that I no longer want to bear."
The Russian leader's troops have seized control of roads and have begun placing sandbags along the roadsides in a bid to prevent coup forces from making any further advances.
The rebelling group claims to have seized control of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, and reports suggest it also controls key sites in Voronezh, a city further north.
However in a surprise development, Yevgeny Prigozhin has accepted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's proposal to stop Wagner Group's advance toward Moscow, according to the Belarus dictator.
Prigozhin would take further steps to de-escalate tensions, the Belarusian president's press service said.
Prigozhin has not so far commented. Lukashenko had been talking all day to Prigozhin, it was claimed.
All mass outdoor events have been suspended in Moscow for at least one week, authorities said.
Earlier this afternoon, the governor of the region of Lipetsk, south of Moscow, confirmed that Wagner was crossing the region, with video showing a convoy heading north towards the city.
More footage from regions along their route - some of which the BBC has verified - appear to show explosions, and mercenary boss Prigozhin claims his convoys have been fired upon.
In a national address earlier this morning, Putin said Russia's future is at stake, describing the actions of mutineers as a "stab in the back".
