A Kremlin spokesman has denied reports that Vladimir Putin has fled Moscow by plane.

One of several planes that Putin uses for official visits took off from Moscow at 2.15 pm local time, according to Flight Radar, which tracks aircraft in real-time.

Less than half an hour later, it went off radar about 150 kilometres from Mr Putin’s official residence.

“Putin is working at the Kremlin,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Tass news agency when asked about reports of Putin going to the northwest, possibly St Petersburg.

Follow the latest updates below.