Why did Vladimir Putin cancel his televised address?
The Russian president was indeed supposed to address the Russian nation this Tuesday, at 7 p.m. French time (8 p.m., Moscow time), to discuss in particular the referendums announced during the day in the occupied Ukrainian territories.
To discover
Follow information on the war in Ukraine with the Figaro application
Specter of nuclear war
However, the head of the Kremlin was long overdue, to the point that more than two hours after the supposed start of his speech, a Russian journalist, Margarita Simonian, indicated on Twitter to the Russians
"to go to sleep".
The latter is the editor-in-chief of
Russia Today
, a Russian state-controlled television channel and was sanctioned by the European Union in 2022 for being considered a
"central figure"
in Russian propaganda.
According to Russian media, the Russian president's speech would have been postponed to Wednesday morning, 8 a.m. Moscow time (7 a.m. Paris time).
Forbes Russia also said the speech would air on Wednesday morning
“when the Far East wakes up,”
citing two sources within the Kremlin.
However, the reasons for this postponement are not known.
Some analysts have argued that Putin could decree a general mobilization of Russian society and raised the specter of nuclear war if Russia annexes occupied Ukrainian territories.
The lower house of the Russian Parliament voted on Tuesday a text considerably toughening the prison sentences incurred by soldiers who surrender to the enemy, desert or commit looting.
For the independent Russian analyst Tatiana Stanovaïa, the holding of these votes means that Putin wants to assume
"the right to use atomic weapons to defend Russian territory".
Margarita Simonian has judged that this week will be either
“the antechamber of our imminent victory”
or that
of “nuclear war”.
