Overview
- Investigative project Sistema analyzed roughly 700 Kremlin videos and identified near-identical sets replicating the Novo-Ogaryovo office in Sochi and Valdai.
- Researchers report that since early 2025 most meetings presented as taking place at Novo-Ogaryovo were actually filmed at Valdai, with only one documented visit to the Moscow-region residence.
- Leaked emails cited in the report show state film crews working in Sochi while footage was labeled as recorded at Novo-Ogaryovo.
- Minute visual cues such as wall panel heights, door-handle and light-switch positions, desk trays, and a TV-stand shape were used to distinguish the locations.
- Sources say Valdai is preferred because it is farther from Ukraine and easier to defend, and state TV crews are bound to secrecy about where recordings occur; a defector says the setup aims to thwart intelligence and assassination attempts.