Putin cancels annual year-end news conference for 1st time in a decade amid setbacks in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t be holding his annual year-end marathon news convention this month amid the warfare in Ukraine. Observers have attributed the uncommon break within the long-held custom to the Kremlin’s uneasiness a couple of string of battlefield setbacks.
 
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that Putin would not maintain the annual news convention for the primary time in 10 years. He did not touch upon the explanation behind it, however many commentators attributed it to the Russian chief’s reluctance to face disagreeable questions about what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
 
The annual news convention has been utilized by the Kremlin to shine Putin’s picture. The tightly stage-managed present televised dwell lasted for as much as 4 1/2 hours and featured Putin speaking about a variety of home and overseas coverage points.

Political analyst Abbas Gallyamov mentioned in a video commentary that Putin cancelled the annual news convention as a result of “he has nothing to say from the point of view of strategy.”

“The press conference has become a significant fixture in Putin’s calendar of public engagement and has frequently been used as an opportunity to demonstrate the supposed integrity of Putin,” the U.Okay. Defense Ministry mentioned in a commentary on Twitter.

“Although questions are almost certainly usually vetted in advance, the cancellation is likely due to increasing concerns about the prevalence of anti-war feeling in Russia,” it mentioned. “Kremlin officials are almost certainly extremely sensitive about the possibility that any event attended by Putin could be hijacked by unsanctioned discussion about the ‘special military operation.'”

Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, saying that it is aimed to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the nation, citing NATO’s refusal to supply Russia ensures that Ukraine would not be invited to affix the alliance. Ukraine and far of the world denounced the Russian assault on its neighbor as an unprovoked act of aggression.
 
Putin and his officers hoped to rout the Ukrainian navy in a couple of days, however a fierce Ukrainian resistance shortly derailed these plans. After a botched try and shortly seize the Ukrainian capital, the Russian troops pulled again from areas round Kyiv in March.

In September, Ukraine gained again giant swaths of land within the northeastern Kharkiv area, and final month it reclaimed management of the strategic southern port metropolis of Kherson.
 
A mobilization of 300,000 reservists that Putin ordered in September thus far has did not reverse battlefield fortunes for Russia. The mobilization order has prompted lots of of 1000’s of Russians to flee overseas to keep away from recruitment, and those that have been referred to as up reported evident shortages of key gear and provides.

In a uncommon acknowledgement final week that the marketing campaign in Ukraine is taking longer than he anticipated, Putin admitted that wrapping up his “special military operation” may very well be a “lengthy process.” At the identical time, he continued to assert that the marketing campaign was going in line with plan and can obtain its targets.
 
The Kremlin has muzzled any criticism of its motion in Ukraine from the liberal anti-war camp, shutting essential media shops and criminalizing the unfold of any data that differs from the official view. But it has confronted an more and more vocal criticism from Russian hardliners who’ve denounced the president as weak and indecisive and referred to as for ramping up strikes on Ukraine.
 
Amid a string of navy setbacks in Ukraine, Putin spiked one other annual fixture, a televised call-in present wherein he takes questions from the general public to nurture his father-of-the-nation picture.
 
Putin additionally thus far has did not ship the televised state-of-the-nation tackle to parliament, a speech he is obliged by the nation’s structure to ship every year.
 
The Kremlin hasn’t set a date for Putin’s tackle.