Where's Putin? Leader leaves bad news on Ukraine to others - The Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Russia’s apical subject brass announced successful a televised quality that they were pulling troops retired of the cardinal metropolis of Kherson successful confederate Ukraine, 1 antheral missing from the country was President Vladimir Putin.

As Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Sergei Surovikin, Russia’s main commandant successful Ukraine, stiffly recited the reasons for the retreat successful beforehand of the cameras connected Nov. 9, Putin was touring a neurological infirmary successful Moscow, watching a doc execute encephalon surgery.

Later that day, Putin spoke astatine different lawsuit but made nary notation of the pullout from Kherson -– arguably Russia’s astir humiliating withdrawal successful Ukraine. In the days that followed, helium hasn’t publically commented connected the topic.

Putin’s soundlessness comes arsenic Russia faces mounting setbacks successful astir 9 months of fighting. The Russian person appears to person delegated the transportation of atrocious quality to others — a maneuver helium utilized during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kherson was the lone determination superior Moscow’s forces had seized successful Ukraine, falling into Russian hands successful the archetypal days of the invasion. Russia occupied the metropolis and astir of the outlying region, a cardinal gateway to the Crimean Peninsula, for months.

Moscow illegally annexed the Kherson region, on with 3 different Ukrainian provinces, earlier this year. Putin personally hosted a pomp-filled Kremlin ceremony formalizing the moves successful September, proclaiming that “people who unrecorded successful Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia go our citizens forever.”

Just implicit a period later, however, Russia’s tricolor flags came down implicit authorities buildings successful Kherson, replaced with the yellow-and-blue banners of Ukraine.

The Russian subject reported completing the withdrawal from Kherson and surrounding areas to the eastbound slope of the Dnieper River connected Nov. 11. Since then, Putin has not mentioned the retreat successful immoderate of his nationalist appearances.

Putin “continues to unrecorded successful the aged logic: This is not a war, it is simply a peculiar operation, main decisions are being made by a tiny ellipse of ‘professionals,’ portion the president is keeping his distance,” governmental expert Tatyana Stanovaya wrote successful a caller commentary.

Putin, who was erstwhile rumored to personally supervise the subject run successful Ukraine and springiness battlefield orders to generals, appeared this week to beryllium focused connected everything but the war.

He discussed bankruptcy procedures and car manufacture problems with authorities officials, talked to a Siberian politician astir boosting investments successful his region, had telephone calls with assorted satellite leaders and met with the caller president of Russia’s Academy of Science.

On Tuesday, Putin chaired a video gathering connected World War II memorials. That was the time erstwhile helium was expected to talk astatine the Group of 20 acme successful Indonesia — but helium not lone decided not to attend, helium didn’t adjacent articulation it by video league oregon nonstop a pre-recorded speech.

The World War II memorial gathering was the lone 1 successful caller days successful which immoderate Ukrainian cities -– but not Kherson -– were mentioned. After the meeting, Putin signed decrees awarding the occupied cities of Melitopol and Mariupol the rubric of City of Military Glory, portion Luhansk was honored arsenic City of Labor Merit.

Independent governmental expert Dmitry Oreshkin attributed Putin’s soundlessness to the information helium has built a governmental strategy akin to that of the Soviet Union, successful which a person – oregon “vozhd” successful Russian, a word utilized to picture Josef Stalin – by explanation is incapable of making mistakes.

“Putin and Putin’s strategy … is built successful a mode that each defeats are blamed connected idiosyncratic else: enemies, traitors, a stab successful the back, planetary Russophobia -– anything, really,” Oreshkin said. “So if helium mislaid somewhere, first, it’s untrue, and 2nd -– it wasn’t him.”

Some of Putin’s supporters questioned specified evident distancing from what adjacent pro-Kremlin circles viewed arsenic a captious developments successful the war.

For Putin to person telephone calls with the leaders of Armenia and the Central African Republic astatine the clip of the retreat from Kherson was much troubling than “the precise calamity of Kherson,” said pro-Kremlin governmental expert Sergei Markov successful a station connected Facebook.

“At first, I didn’t adjacent judge the news, that’s however unthinkable it was,” Markov said, describing Putin’s behaviour arsenic a “demonstration of a full withdrawal.”

Others sought to enactment a affirmative rotation connected the retreat and weave Putin into it. Pro-Kremlin TV big Dmitry Kiselev, connected his flagship quality amusement Sunday night, said the logic down the withdrawal from Kherson was “to prevention people.”

According to Kiselev, who spoke successful beforehand of a ample photograph of Putin looking preoccupied with a caption saying, “To Save People,” it was the aforesaid logic the president uses – “to prevention people, and successful circumstantial circumstances, each person.”

That’s however immoderate mean Russians tin presumption the retreat, too, analysts say.

“Given the increasing fig of radical who privation bid talks, adjacent among Putin’s supporters, immoderate specified maneuver is taken calmly oregon adjacent arsenic a motion of a imaginable sobering up –- redeeming manpower, the anticipation of peace,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, a elder chap astatine the Carnegie Endowment.

For Russia’s hawks -– vocal Kremlin supporters who person been calling for drastic battlefield steps and weren’t thrilled astir the Kherson retreat -– determination are regular barrages of rocket strikes connected Ukraine’s powerfulness grid, expert Oreshkin said.

Moscow launched 1 Tuesday. With astir 100 missiles and drones fired astatine targets crossed Ukraine, it was the biggest onslaught to day connected the country’s powerfulness grid and plunged millions into darkness.

Oreshkin believes that specified attacks don’t inflict excessively overmuch harm onto Ukraine’s subject and don’t alteration overmuch connected the battlefield.

“But it is indispensable to make an representation of a victorious ‘vozhd.’ So it is indispensable to transportation retired immoderate benignant of strikes and shriek astir them loudly. That’s what they’re doing close now, successful my opinion,” helium said.

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Follow AP sum of the warfare successful Ukraine at: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine