Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled the traditional year-end press conference, and his speech in Parliament is in question as well, the BBC reports.
Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov said that Putin hopefully will find time and opportunity for a conversation with the media. The Kremlin has not provided information on why the press conference is canceled. This decision comes when Russian society grows displeased with Putin’s decision to start a war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, Russia has suffered considerable losses.
«The big press conference before the new year will not take place,» Peskov told the media and emphasized that Putin regularly talks to the media.
For the past ten years, at the end of every year, the Kremlin has held a carefully staged, several-hour-long press conference attended by dozens of Russian and foreign journalists. Putin has made substantial efforts to regularly appear on television screens and present himself as a head of state who is approachable and close to every citizen. However, opposition representatives point out that in a country where press freedom does not exist, such programs are staged shows in which pro-Kremlin journalists ask flattering questions to «the world’s most powerful politician». Nevertheless, politicians from other countries followed these programs to understand which direction Russia plans to go.
Kremlin already canceled the press conference in June this year. The Russian constitution requires the president to address Parliament at the end of each year, but Peskov said this issue was still being discussed.
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