The Russian president made a late-night dash to his Government office amid speculation he was pre-recording a major announcement.

Video shows Vladimir Putin’s Aurus limousine speeding down the road in Moscow, escorted by police at around 11pm on Saturday night.

The president’s spokesperson denied Putin was set to make an emergency meeting or was in crisis meetings regarding the Ukraine war.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS: ‘No. Everything is not like that. Everything is normal.’

He would not however be drawn on the reason behind Putin’s late-night meeting.

It came right after talks with Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko in St Petersburg, where Putin agreed to supply advanced nuclear-capable arms to the country.

The president of Belarus had called the behaviour of neighbouring countries Lithuania and Poland ‘aggressive’, ‘confrontational’ and ‘repulsive’.

Putin was quoted as saying: ‘We will transfer Iskander-M tactical missile systems to Belarus, which can use both ballistic and cruise missiles, both in conventional and nuclear versions.’

Soon after the meeting Russian warplanes bombarded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities for the first time in three weeks, using Belarusian airspace.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency fears this move is ‘directly connected to attempts by the Kremlin to drag Belarus into the war’.

Putin has previously pre-recorded major announcements in the Kremlin, which are released to the public at a later date.

When he launched his ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine at night on February 24 it is thought he had pre-recorded the announcement.

Ukrainian officials have expressed concern a new message may announce an escalation in hostilities against the country.

‘Late at night on Saturday Putin suddenly drove into the Kremlin,’ said Anton Gerashchenko.

‘Details: Peskov denied suggestions that appeared in the media that it was linked to an emergency meeting, and said that “everything was normal”.’

Putin does not live in the Kremlin but at an official residence out of town, and over the summer is often in Sochi, on the Black Sea.

So the sight of him arriving at the Kremlin late on a Saturday night was considered unusual.

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