ISW names reason for Putin's refusal from annual address to Federal Assembly

This is stated on the website of the Institute for the Study of War.

Experts note that the Russian president should be more confident in his ability to shape the country's information space after the criticism of the defeat in Ukraine. This is evidenced by Vladimir Putin's decision to postpone his address to the Federal Assembly, which has been held annually since 1994.

"Putin may not be confident in his ability to justify the cost of his war upon Russian domestic and global affairs when addressing the Russian public and elites. A victory in Ukraine could have allowed Putin to obfuscate Russian human and financial losses as it did in 2014, but Russia has not had any significant victories since the Russian occupation of Lysychansk in early July. Putin had previously attempted to sell the annexation of partially occupied Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts on September 30 as a major victory, only to reportedly generate further grumbling among Russian elites and undermine state propaganda narratives," the ISW report said.

• On December 12, Russian President's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin had canceled a large final press conference. 

• A day later, British intelligence explained why Putin refused the annual press conference: the Russian dictator canceled the speech with the year's results not to answer questions about the Russian war against Ukraine.