split
Criticism of Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine is said to be mounting in Russia’s leadership circles. There was no sign of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Moscow – In the midst of the Ukraine war, speculation is mounting as to the whereabouts of Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. According to information from the news channel CNN, a spokesman for the Kremlin in Moscow refused to provide information on the whereabouts of the defense minister.
Shoigu was previously considered a close confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since the start of the Ukraine conflict, however, the supreme commander of the Russian armed forces has increasingly withdrawn from the public eye. On Wednesday evening, the independent Russian news agency Agentstvo reported that the 66-year-old army general’s health had deteriorated sharply. The agency relies on anonymous sources from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russia: Putin’s Defense Minister Shoigu goes into hiding
Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, denied this when asked on Thursday. “The secretary of defense is very busy at the moment,” he said when CNN asked about Schoigu’s absence. “The military special operation is underway. Of course, now is not exactly the time for media activities, which is quite understandable.” The Russian news agency Agentstvo should not be trusted anyway, according to Peskov.
Shoigu’s last public appearance was on March 18 on Russian state television. According to numerous Russian journalists, however, this is a recording that dates from March 11th. If that is true, the top general in the Russian army has not appeared in public for over two weeks – and this at a time when Russia is in the middle of the biggest war since World War II. At the time, Shoigu said of the attack on Ukraine: “Everything is going according to plan. We will report to you every day of the week on this channel.”
| To person | |
| Name | Sergei Kuschugetowitsch Schoigu |
| Position | Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation |
| Alter | 66 years (born May 21, 1955) |
| children | Kseniya Shoigu, Yulia Shoigu |
Exodus in the Kremlin: First, Putin’s adviser quits, now his defense minister is disappearing
According to Kremlin spokesman Peskov, Shoigu recently attended a meeting with Vladimir Putin and informed him about the state of affairs in the Ukraine war. According to the news portal Meduza, there are no video recordings of this meeting, although the Kremlin otherwise publishes short recordings of such conferences.
Speculations about the mysterious disappearance of Shoigu had increased in recent days, especially after Vladimir Putin’s longtime adviser Anatoly Chubais surprisingly resigned and left the country. Chubais is said to have taken this step in protest against the Ukraine war. Peskow, however, downplayed the departure of the senior adviser. Chubais is not a “direct employee of the presidential administration”. “Every day someone quits the administration or new employees come. It’s a pretty big and lively mechanism,” Peskow said. (Daniel Dillman)