Vladimir Putin is trying to shift the responsibility for the invasion of the Kursk region by the Ukrainian Armed Forces onto other representatives of the Russian government and military, Hromadske reports.
According to analysts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), on August 12, Putin held a meeting with the Russian military, security forces, representatives of federal and regional authorities on the situation in Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions. During the meeting, he set tasks for the Russian military and security forces and gave his assessment of the political situation related to Ukraine’s invasion of Russia.
Analysts note that the Kremlin leader rebuked the acting governor of Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, for discussing issues that, in his opinion, fall within the competence of the Russian Defense Ministry, and ordered Smirnov to speak only about the socio-economic situation in Kursk region.
In addition, ISW noted that the Kremlin published videos of the reports of the heads of Bryansk, Belgorod, and Kursk regions to Putin, probably in order to publicly present the heads of the regions as responsible for these problems. However, it is known that the Kremlin did not publish a video of the meeting at which the Russian military apparently reported to Putin.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Kremlin’s decision to release the video of Putin scolding senior Russian officials is likely a warning to other Russian officials to refrain from commenting on the Ukrainian invasion.
