Following three consecutive days of missions by the Russian "Doomsday Plane", i.e. the Tupolev Tu-214SR communication relay aircraft, which as we reported first on Friday [3], has been circling in proximity to Finland, above the island of Valaam in Lake Ladoga, moments ago, deep in the Russian night, the plane which traditionally accompanies Putin took off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport and is once again making loops over Valaam island (flight can be tracked in real-time for the next several hours with FlightRadar24 [4]).
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It appears that the reason for the now daily flights centered on the island of Valaam, is that Putin is visiting his “spiritual mentor [6]” in a monastery located on the island far from the mainland, the Valaam monastery is one of the Russian Orthodox Church's holiest and most isolated sites.
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Those who wish to learn more about Putin's fascination with the Valaam monastery monks can do so with this BBC report investigating the growing assertiveness of the church - and its relationship with the Russian government ...
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... and also watch the following RT documentary as he meets the monks, mucks in with the volunteers, and encounters a special group of children in one of most spiritual places in the country.
As we previously reported the Tu-214R is a Russian version of the U.S. E-4B, an airborne command and control role, most recently sean above Sochia and above Crimea more recently. As The Aviatonist summarizes, "while NOTAMs can expose the position of the Admiral Kutsnezov aircraft carrier, Mode-S transponder on Russia’s “doomsday” plane will most probably tell you where Putin is."
Then again, it is likely that Russia is aware that the entire world can track Putin based on a free public website, so one probably shouldn't put it beyond Russia to maybe just send the plane on a wild goose chase now and then so that it doesn't telegraph to the entire world where Putin may be found next...