Cornered in Ukraine, Putin ditches annual news conference
2 years ago

Cornered in Ukraine, Putin ditches annual news conference

Associated Press  

President Vladimir Putin has ditched his annual marathon news conference following a series of battlefield setbacks in Ukraine — a tacit acknowledgment that the Russian leader’s war has gone badly wrong. “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,’” it said, using Moscow’s term for the war. Political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said in a video commentary that the decision not to hold the news conference was likely because Putin “has nothing to say from the point of view of strategy.” Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, claiming Moscow was forced to “demilitarize” the country in the face of NATO’s refusal to offer Russia guarantees that Ukraine wouldn’t be invited to join the alliance. Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political expert, noted that Putin’s decision to ditch the news conference and his failure so far to deliver the state-of-the-nation address reflected his hesitancy about the future course of action.

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