Медийное появление Шойгу на совещании у Путина pic.twitter.com/BVmb22CG5c
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https://scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3171774/ukraine-war-russian-media-zooms-putin-defence-chief Russia & Central Asia
Ukraine war: Russian media zooms in on Putin defence chief amid rumours of his ‘disappearance’
- Sergei Shoigu, the president’s close ally, is overseeing military operations in Ukraine, but had not been seen in public since March 11
- A broadcast briefly showed him at a meeting of top officials, though the clip had no audio, and did not show the minister speaking
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu delivers a speech at a meeting in Moscow in December. Photo: Kremlin via dpa
Russia’s defence minister was briefly shown by state media at a meeting of top officials on Thursday after dropping out of public view for days during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, is overseeing what Russia calls its “special military operation”, but had not been seen in public since March 11, fuelling speculation about his whereabouts.
The 66-year-old was shown on Thursday on a televised split screen of top officials as Putin spoke to his Security Council by video conference in footage released by RIA news agency.
RIA made a point of zooming in on Shoigu in the top left-hand corner of a video screen set in front of Putin. The clip did not contain audio and did not show Shoigu speaking.
The Kremlin said Shoigu had taken part in the Security Council meeting along with other top officials.
Asked about Shoigu’s whereabouts, the Kremlin said it was understandable that the defence minister was devoting less time to media appearances.
“The defence minister has a lot on his mind right now. A special military operation is under way. Now is not really the time for media activity,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Later Thursday, the Russian defence ministry announced a telephone conversation between Shoigu and his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikian.
The two men “discussed the current situation in the region and the areas where Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh are carrying out their tasks”, the ministry said.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been feuded over by ex-Soviet states Azerbaijan and Armenia since Armenian separatists seized the territory in a war in the early 1990s.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) meets with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (second from the left) and chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow on February 27. File photo: TNS
An expert told The New York Times that Putin’s advisers are “on edge” as Russia’s war with Ukraine has devolved into a debacle – with Russian troops met with stronger Ukrainian resistance than they anticipated.
The Times reported that Russia’s military failures in its war with Ukraine had exposed cracks within Russian leadership.
Shoigu is a veteran of Russia’s political landscape who rose to prominence as the head of the Emergencies Ministry in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Defence minister since 2012, he has sometimes been tipped as a potential successor to Putin in the Kremlin.
He and Putin have been pictured in Siberia taking holidays together, fishing and picking mushrooms.
Russian officials’ absences often prompt rumours of illness, due to the fact that the authorities are reluctant to release such information even if true.
Rumours have swirled on several occasions when Putin has disappeared from public view for a week or more.
“We would be bored if there were no rumours,” he said in 2015 after a 10-day absence.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse