The Kremlin has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not hold a year-end press conference this year, abandoning a yearly custom that stretches back to his early years in office.
Putin “often speaks to the press, including on overseas tours,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who stated on Monday that “there will not be [a news conference] before the New Year.”
Peskov provided no explanation for skipping the marathon conference, which typically lasts several hours. However, Kremlin observers believe that Peskov broke protocol because of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, which started in February.
At a time when Russia’s conflict in Ukraine has not gone as planned, officials also announced that there will be no New Year’s reception at the Kremlin.
Since he came to power in 2000, Putin has conducted a news conference every December, which he has used to defame himself on national television.
Putin spends a large portion of the media conference, a significant political event in the nation, responding to frivolous queries from regional media outlets and the general public. This allows his administration to brag about its commitment to free speech and open government.
He spoke for more than four hours the previous year.
Putin’s December event, a rare chance for reporters outside the Kremlin pool, including foreign journalists, to directly ask the Russian president questions, will be absent this year for the first time in ten years.
Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24 and called a mobilization on September 21 to support Moscow’s forces there.
As protests developed among Siberian ethnic minorities living in remote, impoverished areas where Russia’s military forces have traditionally recruited disproportionately, hundreds of thousands of people fled the country to avoid being drafted.
As a result of Putin targeting local critics of the invasion or the mobilization itself, Russia has become isolated on the global stage.
Russians’ disapproval has risen as Moscow experienced military setbacks in the conflict, including the loss of Kherson, a significant city in the south that Russia had forcibly seized.
Since the invasion in February, thousands of Russians have died, a subject that is often overlooked on state television. The economy of the nation has also been severely impacted by the escalating international sanctions against numerous oligarchs, banks, and other institutions.
