The mysterious absence of Vladimir Putin: fewer appearances and tight security

Surveys he conducted project an independent Russian media house banned by the Kremlin, shows that Putin was in the public eye for just 147 days from November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023.

Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he will run for re-election next year. Russians are scheduled to go to the polls on March 17, 2024.

After the constitutional changes that the Russian leader was able to implement before the war in Ukraine, he can remain in office until 2036.

Watch the video: 98-year-old man died: – It’s something Putin would have done

“Hire your people.”

Brockett says Putin’s reduced public appearance over the past year is unusual given the presidential election in 2024.

“He was very tired of his own people,” Brockett writes. This claim has not been independently confirmed.

Not only has Putin made few public appearances in the past year, in half of the meetings he has held, he has also tried to distance himself from others.

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Putin, for example, is holding many meetings virtually via video link. According to Prokt, Putin held 113 meetings via videoconference last year, including almost all Security Council meetings and all meetings with members of the government.

The Russian leader was also filmed holding meetings with officials remotely at long tables, leading to speculation that Putin is concerned about the coronavirus.

In other cases, a barrier was erected in front of the president on stage, separating him from the audience.

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“On the street, Putin’s interlocutors are forced to stand more than 10 meters away from him, behind a specially designated red line,” Brockett adds.

“Theoretically, this can be explained by the desire to protect oneself against Covid-19. But sometimes Putin still needs to communicate with people face to face, and then the Kremlin resorts to unbridled security measures (from the point of view of public policy),” the media adds. media.

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Strict rules

A former Kremlin guard said in an interview earlier this year that Putin is a “self-isolating president.” Newsweek. The guard added that even Kremlin employees “must adhere to a strict two-week quarantine before any event, even those lasting 15 to 20 minutes.”

Proyect writes that Putin has not always done “so little”:

For example, in October 2007, with which we compare Putin’s current performance, he was holding public meetings almost every day. If we ignore face-to-face meetings with officials even if they could have been public at the time, Putin was publicly present for 23 days.

In comparison, Putin appeared in public for 15 days in October of this year.

“At the same time, Putin not only appears less in public, but also holds fewer events in general. In May 2017, for example, the Kremlin press service reported 67 meetings in which the president participated, and in May 2023 – only 40.