Fear of Christmas? Vladimir Putin cancels public appearances at the end of the year

Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled major public events scheduled for the end of the year. No address to the nation, no annual press conference, no Christmas ceremony in Kremlin. Failures on the battlefield made him a bearer of bad news.

As the Kremlin admits,Russia it is a besieged fortress, and Putin is its commander,” but the reality is that events on the Ukrainian front are beginning to dangerously influence the political agenda.

Putinwho has not suspended any of these events during the coronavirus pandemic, but only presides over events where everything is controlled to the smallest detail, such as an awards ceremony in the Kremlin or a meeting of the State Council, a purely advisory Council.

Fear of a Ukrainian attack

since 2012 Putin he answers questions from the press every year for about four hours. He has been doing this without fail since returning to the Kremlin after a four-year hiatus as prime minister (2008-2012). This year he decided to break the tradition.

With conflict Ukraine in the process, some questions from foreign correspondents must have hinted at the difficult situation at the front and the humiliating departure of the Russians from the Kharkov and Kherson regions.

There were also uncomfortable questions in the menu of the local press about unpopular mobilization, supply problems and the participation of conscripts in hostilities. Putin he had much more to lose than to gain.

I would have to explain the inexplicable, namely, that instead of a crushing victory and Ukrainian denazification at this stage of the conflict, the enemy seized the initiative and won back part of the territories annexed by Moscow on paper.

As the Moscow Times writes, citing presidential and government sources, the fear of a Ukrainian sabotage operation similar to that carried out in the Crimea and at airfields in Russia has definitely tipped the scales in favor of canceling any action that could undermine popularity of the head of state.

Putin would have made the decision personally, since the security forces cannot guarantee that such a scenario will not happen again.

violate the constitution

The Russian Constitution of 1994 obliges the President to annually deliver a keynote speech on the administration of the state and plans for the coming year.

Previous intervention Putin before the Federal Assembly (Duma and Senate) dated April 2021, many now expected it to address deputies and senators with a positive agenda in times of sanctions and lockdown.

The Kremlin did not like the fact that the state press was speculating on the dates of the speech, and its press secretary Dmitry Peskov urged them to stop “predicting the future on coffee grounds”, although he himself promised in September that the address would take place this year.

In March 2014, Putin used this speech to announce the annexation of Crimea, and in 2018, an unprecedented hypersonic weapons program capable of bypassing any Western missile shield.

While some suggest that the repeal is unconstitutional, Putin He did not even consult with the chairman of the Constitutional Court, the Kremlin admitted this week.

More than half of Russians are in favor of a peaceful solution to the conflict, according to polls, and according to independent sources, a growing percentage of people believe that Putin was wrong in ordering military intervention. And the fact is that the competition has affected wages, the cost of living and travel abroad.

Election 2024

In recent weeks, Putin has focused on reopening roads, deposits, icebreakers and other infrastructure. He has met with the mothers of the soldiers – all linked to the Kremlin party – but does not want to order the end of mobilization, although the ombudsman admits that he receives dozens of complaints every day about this.

The press notes that Putin He is referring to the 2024 presidential election. No one doubts that he will run for re-election – constitutional reform allows him to remain in power until 2036 – but for this, the Ukrainian problem must first be solved. A defeat would turn the election into a referendum on his identity.

Ukraine he believes that Moscow is preparing a major offensive early next year to change the course of the competition. timetable Putin in 2023 it will depend on its success.

For lack of this year, there will not even be a traditional hockey match, which is held every New Year’s Eve on Red Square with the participation of the country’s top officials. EFE