Russian President Vladimir Putin will not appear before a crowd of journalists at his traditional year-end press conference. The Kremlin canceled the event for the first time in a decade as the conflict with Ukraine entered its 10th month.
The Russian leader's spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, confirmed on Monday that the press conference "will not be held before the New Year" and, for the moment, it is postponed to 2023.
However, "we hope that the president will find an opportunity to speak with journalists, as he does regularly, even during his trips abroad," he added.
Peskov did not give any reason, but the hostilities in Ukraine and the situation on the battlefield could have been important factors in making this decision, the business newspaper RBK argued in November, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The move comes as Russia, which launched a military offensive against Ukraine in February, has suffered several military setbacks in recent months and after Putin's unpopular partial military mobilization ordered in September.
Vladimir Putin, who rose to the highest power in Russia in 2000 after Yeltsin ceded the presidency to him on New Year's Eve 1999, began this tradition in December 2001. Since 2012 it has always been celebrated in December.
The annual meeting began to be massive and marathon since the 2004 session. The appearance usually lasts about four hours of questions and answers on all kinds of topics, from diplomacy and geopolitics to daily problems of Russian citizens.
It is attended by foreign and Russian journalists, especially from provinces far from Moscow, who thus have a unique opportunity to raise issues in their region with the Russian leader.
The president's responses to the media often amount to orders directed at the Russian government or regional authorities.
The first time the annual press conference was canceled was in 2005. He also did not hold it during his time as prime minister (2008-2012).
The covid disrupted the conferences of the last two years. In December 2020, Putin participated by videoconference from his residence in Novo-Ogariovo, on the outskirts of Moscow. In December 2021, it was organized again in person, but with restrictions. Instead of the more than a thousand journalists who usually attend each year, there were half a thousand and, furthermore, no one could be accredited, but rather they attended at the invitation of the Kremlin. Those chosen had to take a PCR test and go through a disinfection tunnel when accessing the Manezh exhibition hall, in the center of Moscow.
