FLIGHTY

Putin Skips Annual News Conference as His War Goes Awry

“The cancellation is likely due to increasing concerns about the prevalence of anti-war feeling in Russia,” the U.K. Defense Ministry said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is skipping his annual news conference after a series of pivotal losses in his war against Ukraine. Each year, the marathon public event is meant to scrub clean the president’s image and feign government openness with answers to questions on domestic and foreign policy, the Associated Press reports. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov didn’t say why Putin dipped on the press event this year. “Although questions are almost certainly usually vetted in advance, the cancellation is likely due to increasing concerns about the prevalence of anti-war feeling in Russia,” the U.K. Defense Ministry said on Twitter. Russia may be very “sensitive” that any Putin-attended event “could be hijacked by unsanctioned discussion about the ‘special military operation,’” the Ministry said, referring to the Kremlin’s term for the war.