Cornered in Ukraine, Putin ditches annual news conference

President Vlimir Putin has ditched his annual marathon news conference following a series of battlefield setbacks in Ukraine — a tacit acknowledgment that Russian leer’s war has gone bly wrong.

Putin typically uses year-end ritual to polish his image, answering a wide range of questions on domestic and foreign policy to demonstrate his grip on details and give semblance of openness even though event is tightly stage-managed.

But this year, with his troops on back foot in Ukraine, it could be impossible to avoid uncomfortable questions about Russian military’s blunders even at a highly choreographed event. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that Putin wouldn’t hold news conference this month without explaining why.

“Although questions are almost certainly usually vetted in vance, cancellation is likely due to increasing concerns about prevalence of anti-war feeling in Russia,” U.K. Defense Ministry wrote in a commentary on Twitter.

“Kremlin officials are almost certainly extremely sensitive about possibility that any event attended by Putin could be hijacked by unsanctioned discussion about ‘special military operation,’” it said, using Moscow’s term for war.

Some of his previous performances lasted for more than 4 1/2 hours, during which he has sometimes faced some pointed questions, but used m to mock West or denigrate his domestic opponents.

Putin also has canceled anor annual fixture this year, a televised call-in show in which he takes questions from public to nurture his far-of--nation image.

And he has so far failed to deliver annual televised state-of--nation dress to parliament, a constitutional obligation. No date has been set for Putin’s dress.

Kremlin has muzzled any criticism of its invasion of Ukraine from liberal anti-war camp, shutting independent media outlets and criminalizing spre of any information that differs from official view — including calling campaign a war. But it has faced an increasingly vocal criticism from Russian hardliners, who have denounced president as weak and indecisive and called for ramping up strikes on Ukraine.

Political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said in a video commentary that decision not to hold news conference was likely because Putin “has nothing to say from point of view of strategy.”

Putin ordered invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, claiming Moscow was forced to “demilitarize” country in face of NATO’s refusal to offer Russia guarantees that Ukraine wouldn’t be invited to join alliance. Ukraine and much of world denounced Russian attack on its neighbor as an unprovoked act of aggression.

Putin and his officials hoped to rout Ukrainian military in a few days, but a fierce Ukrainian resistance — bolstered by Western weapons — quickly derailed those plans. After a botched attempt to quickly capture Ukrainian capital, Russian troops pulled back from areas around Kyiv in March.

In September, Ukraine won back large swaths of land in norastern Kharkiv region, and last month it reclaimed control of strategic sourn port city of Kherson.

A mobilization of 300,000 reservists that Putin ordered in September so far has failed to reverse battlefield fortunes for Russia. mobilization order has prompted hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee abro to avoid recruitment, and those who have been called up reported glaring shortages of key equipment and supplies.

In a rare acknowledgement last week that war in Ukraine is taking longer than he anticipated, Putin acknowledged that wrapping up campaign could be a “lengthy process.” At same time, he continued to claim that it was going according to plan and would achieve its goals.

Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political expert, noted that Putin’s decision to ditch news conference and his failure so far to deliver state-of--nation dress reflected his hesitancy about future course of action.

“Shall we forge ahe and defeat enemy?” he wrote, reflecting hardliners’ calls for ramping up missile strikes on Ukraine. “Or on contrary, shall we prepare for a difficult but necessary compromise?”