war against Ukraine
London: Putin fears anti-war sentiment in Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled his annual press conference for this year. photo
© Aleksey Nikolskyi/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP/dpa/Archive
The Kremlin surprisingly canceled the Russian President’s annual press conference recently. Probably also out of concern that an event with Putin could be “hijacked” by opponents of the war.
According to British intelligence experts, the Russian leadership is concerned about the increase in anti-war sentiment in their country. This is indicated by the cancellation of the traditional annual press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the daily intelligence update of the Ministry of Defense in London.
“Kremlin officials are almost certainly very concerned about the possibility that an event attended by Putin could be hijacked for an illicit discussion of the ‘military special operation’,” the statement tweeted.
Putin’s major annual press conference has taken place a total of 17 times since 2001. There were interruptions only in 2005 and in the years 2008-2012, when Dmitry Medvedev held the presidency. Hundreds of Russian and foreign media representatives traveled to the event.
The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine at the end of February, citing intelligence information. In doing so, the British government wants to both counter the Russian portrayal and keep allies in line. Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign.