The Kremlin is allegedly trying to portray Russian President Vladimir Putin as a competent wartime leader and to show his closeness to the people.. Hence the idea to demonstrate his arrival at the Joint Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and visiting the opening of a turkey farm. This is stated in the report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for December 17.

The Russian Defense Ministry and the media released footage of Putin's visit to the Joint Headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces, which shows that Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander of the Joint Grouping of Forces in Ukraine Sergei Surovikin. However, images and video of the event provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense do not allow identification of other officers present there, such as the command of a military district or army..

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The Kremlin likely made the meeting public to represent that Putin is actively planning and executing a war in Ukraine following recent high-profile criticism of his role in directing the military operations by members of the ultra-nationalist pro-war community.. One well-known milblogger even doubted whether “Putin showed public interest in a special military operation” on their proposal to do so,” ISW experts write, adding that in this way the Kremlin also wants to revive the image of the Russian Ministry of Defense..

But in addition to the image of a talented leader during the war, according to ISW analysts, propaganda is also trying to assign the image of a leader close to the people to Putin.. To this end, Putin's participation in meaningless events, such as the grand opening of a turkey farm, was made public in Russia..

“These efforts are likely aimed at reminding the Russian people that Putin is not only a military but also a civilian leader with close ties to the people.. However, increasing meaningful events while removing opportunities for the public to meaningfully communicate with Putin about the state of the war and the country is unlikely to materially improve Putin’s image, and, as ISW previously assessed, could undermine Putin’s populist appeal,” the report says..

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Recall that the British historian, journalist and writer Timothy Garton Ash wrote in his column on The Guardian that not a single American has caused even half of such harm because Vladimir Putin calls the “Russian world”, like the Russian leader himself. Putin himself, Ash believes, is the main enemy of the “Russian world”.