Several private jets took off from Russia on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin slammed Western-friendly oligarchs that ''mentally exist'' elsewhere, Newsweek reported.
Putin called for ''self-purification'' of the nation from disloyal people in a televised address from the Kremlin.
''I do not judge those with villas in Miami or the French Riviera. Or [those] who can't get by without oysters or foie gras or so-called gender freedoms. The problem is they mentally exist there, and not here, with our people, with Russia,'' Putin said.
''The West will try to bet on the so-called fifth column, on traitors ... to divide our society ... to strive to achieve its aim. And there is one aim — the destruction of Russia,'' he added.
Later, open-source analyst Oliver Alexander tracked a number of flights heading out of mainland Russia, noting that most were headed to the country's sparsely populated Siberia region or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
''Several flights all took off at once heading to airfields near the suspected bunker complexes in the Southern Urals,'' Alexander posted to Twitter. ''No flights were on the ground for many minutes before returning to Moscow, with one simply making a touch and go at Novosibirsk.''
''A large exodus of private jets out of Moscow towards Dubai this morning too,'' another post read.
The news comes as countries begin tamping down on places where Russian oligarchs can flee or hide their money.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid declared at a Tuesday press conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, that the country would not become ''a route to bypass sanctions,'' reiterating that the entry of private jets and yachts has been limited, according to The Times of Israel.
Countries all over Europe have also seized oligarch-owned yachts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Newsweek.
In addition, Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich was hit with sanctions from the U.K. and the European Union, as well as having his assets frozen by the British government before returning to Russia, The New York Times reported last week.
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