Putin to Start Taking Helicopter to Work

People angry about traffic jams caused by motorcades

President Vladimir Putin will soon fly to work by helicopter rather than being driven there in his usual Mercedes limousine to try to appease anger over traffic jams created by his motorcade.

A helicopter pad has been built in the Kremlin "and the president will use it at the first opportunity," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Putin spends most summers at a government residence.

Russia's post-Soviet shift to capitalism and the oil-fuelled boom of Putin's initial 2000-2008 presidency have clogged Moscow's once uncrowded streets with cars, making for traffic jams that rival overburdened cities worldwide.