Putin to move into bunker as influenza, swine flu & COVID-19 outbreaks hit Russia: Report

A serious outbreak of flu has been reported in Russia with health officials leading a campaign urging people to get vaccinated against the flu. Having also breached the Kremlin and reportedly infected officials close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the head of state will imminently go into isolation in a bunker somewhere in the Ural mountains. Putin is expected to stay hidden in the bunker by the New Year amidst the health and security concerns, reported UK-based Mirror news. Russia is currently suffering through a major onslaught of flu and Swine flu (H1N1) on top of the increasing infection of COVID-19 as winter settles in. 

“Despite the president's order to strengthen security measures at strategic facilities, the already prohibitive security measures of Vladimir Putin himself have really intensified. Putin has begun to spend more time in bunker-type premises. And the president and his loved ones (will celebrate) the New Year in a bunker located behind the Ural Mountains, instead of the residence in Sochi, as previously planned," a report by UK-based Mirror said. Novaya Gazeta Europe news outlet reported that “many people in the Kremlin were down with flu”, attributing the infection disclosure to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The Verstka media outlet also reported that Vladimir Putin is likely to abandon his address to the upper house of parliament.

Putin ditches annual news conference

Reports surfaced on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin has also ditched his annual marathon news conference following a series of battlefield setbacks in Ukraine — a tacit acknowledgement that the Russian leader’s war has gone badly wrong. Putin typically uses the 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 the semblance of openness even though the event is tightly stage-managed, reported AP news. But this year, with his troops on the back foot in Ukraine, it could be impossible to avoid uncomfortable questions about the Russian military’s blunders even at a highly choreographed event. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that Putin wouldn’t hold the news conference this month without explaining why.

“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 UK Defense Ministry wrote in a commentary on Twitter. “Kremlin officials are almost certainly extremely sensitive about the possibility that any event attended by Putin could be hijacked by unsanctioned discussion about the ‘special military operation,’” it said, using Moscow’s term for the war. Putin also has cancelled another annual fixture this year, a televised call-in show in which he takes questions from the public to nurture his father-of-the-nation image.