The pictures that the Kremlin has published in the last few hours only fuel suspicions. Where did it really go Sergei Shoigu? The Russian defense minister, Putin’s stalwart in possession of the nuclear launch code, appears to have been for days disappeared into nothing. Normally very active on the communications front, the senior Moscow manager has not appeared in public or made any statements for about two weeks. The circumstance has fueled strange forebodings and suspicions, to which the Kremlin tried to respond yesterday by showing Shoigu in context video conference with the Russian President. But the video sequences are not convincing at all.
Analyzing the pictures of the phone call with Putin, some Western observers noticed that the defense minister’s pictures look unnatural, not very fluid, unlike those of the other participants in the virtual meeting. Suddenly, the attitude of the senior Russian official seems to shift in an unusual way: someone suspects that Shoigu was not really connected to the Russian president and that it was about him recorded images. To further fuel suspicion, the video resolution wasn’t optimal. So the doubts about the fate of the man who has the power to smash the “nuclear button” only grew.
Очень странное «включение» Шойгу в совещание Путина. В сети предполагают, что идёт наведение камеры на экран с предзаписанным видео. pic.twitter.com/tMA2FcePPh
Соболь Любовь (@SobolLubov) March 24, 2022
It’s the latest public appearance, as mentioned, dated March 11 of last year: on this day the minister was shown in the news presenting state awards to some soldiers injured in the military action in Ukraine at the Mandryk Central Military Clinical Hospital. According to an official report, on March 18, Shoigu attended a meeting between Putin and the permanent members of the Security Council. However, no photos or video were released to establish his presence. On the same day, however, Channel One spoke of the minister Stock images. A rather odd detail, considering the Kremlin man has always taken great care of his public image, to the point of expanding the press service that documents (and declaims) his activities.
In the last few days, a source close to Shoigu has given the reason for the thinning out of the Minister of Generics’ public appearances.heart problems“for the 66yearold Moscow official. The Kremlin had said in other statements that the minister was too busy following operations in Ukraine to go on TV. But suspicions are deepening, also because Shoigu is not the only one Executive director is The Kremlin disappeared from the radar, including the chief of staff of the armed forces Valery Gerasimov the third man who owns the Russian nuclear codes he has not attended events for weeks. The US had focused on him to keep alive a channel that would avert the nuclear threat.
Someone speaks of strong tensions with Russian President Putin, of diverging views on the military action in Ukraine. A deep throat among the secret services had spoken of “chaos and dissatisfaction” even in the ranks of the security guards. A situation the tsar would respond to with the firm hand of the deposed until Alexander Bortnikov, a longtime ally and chief of the Security Service, and Igor Kostyukov, deputy chief of staff of the armed forces, are also apparently isolated.