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Usually Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference is something of a spectacle. Every December, the Kremlin ruler enters the stage of a large hall packed with journalists from Russia and around the world. Reporters use cardboard boxes to try to get the attention of Putin or his spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who is moderating the event, and pose their questions. The high political office always lasted several hours and thus also demonstrated the health and solidity of the 68-year-old Russian president.
Some things are different this year. Instead of a large room, the press conference is being held today in a much more modest setting. The number of journalists present is limited due to the coronavirus pandemic, please pay attention to the distance rules. And Putin himself is staying away from journalists for security reasons: unlike his spokesman Peskow, the head of the Kremlin is only present on one screen and is connected from his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, a Moscow suburb.
Strictly armored
It was not the first time Putin paid attention to his safety. Because the corona virus is known to be widespread in Russia with particular vehemence. The number of deaths in the country is currently higher than in ten years, when many people were victims of the hot summer. According to reports, Putin himself should hardly leave his residences in Novo-Ogaryovo or Sochi. Visitors are strictly screened beforehand. The head of state, who always played sports in public, also to show his robust health, has become increasingly withdrawn in recent months, so much so that rumors even surfaced in Moscow that the president had cancer or Parkinson’s and was planning to start. next year a transfer of power.
It is not the first time such rumors have emerged. The international press had already speculated years ago that Putin was seriously ill when the president was not seen in public for a long time. However, so far these theses have not come true.
Only 34 percent approval
However, speculation is flourishing, also in light of Putin’s polls slump: According to opinion research institute Levada, only about 34 percent of Russians support the president. It is far from the astronomical approval rates of more than 80 percent that Putin had at the time of the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Also for this reason, observers suspect that Putin’s behavior could be related to the aging head of state who wants to examine who of his possible successors is loyal and who dares to come out of cover too soon.
Putin speaks of “meddling” in Belarus
For the moment, however, all of this is still Kremlin astrology. At the press conference, Putin did not seem fragile, but as always. He wants to be vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, as soon as the green light is given for his age group. Regarding the crisis in Belarus, he spoke of “foreign interference” and said: “Nothing good comes from abroad.” On the other hand, the Kremlin chief wants to “even expand” Russian support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In the lead up to the press conference, it was eagerly anticipated whether the Russian president would comment on the latest allegations about the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and how he would do it. “Spiegel”, the investigative platforms “Bellingcat” and “The Insider”, as well as the US television station CNN had recently reported, citing a joint investigation, that agents of the Russian national secret service FSB had poisoned Navalny. Navalny himself submitted the names and sometimes photographs of the agents who were following him on video. After the results of the investigation were presented, the Kremlin was initially quite silent.
“This patient in Berlin”
Putin then adopted familiar tones at the press conference: The reports of the poisoning of Navalny by FSB agents were a “trick” to attack Russian leaders. Navalny, whom the former FSB chief did not address by name, but only as “this patient in a Berlin clinic,” is simply not important enough. “Who is it? If someone had wanted that, he would have finished it too.” The investigation is material of the US secret services. However, the Kremlin’s opponent had stated that the telephone connection data and the travel lists of the FSB employees came from files that could be bought on the Russian black market.
Will Biden save the arms treaty?
The defeat of Donald Trump in the US presidential election was not exactly greeted with euphoria by Russia – the powerful politician Trump had been hesitant to criticize the Kremlin’s human rights policy – although he took a tough stance toward Moscow in security policy issues. Of course, that shouldn’t change with Trump’s successor, Joe Biden. Biden is also known for his pact with Russia’s orbiting post-Soviet states, something seen with an eagle’s eye in the Kremlin. However, Putin was friendly with Biden on Thursday: He had foreign policy experience and expected good cooperation. In fact, under Biden, at least the New Start Treaty, the last arms limitation treaty still in effect, could be saved. It limits the nuclear arsenals of both countries.
