News
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has not appeared in public since March 11, that is, 12 days out of 28 while the war in Ukraine continues. Mediazona journalist Dmitry Treshchanin and Agents.media have drawn attention to this fact.
Shoigu's entourage says he has heart problems, an acquaintance of the minister told Agents.media.
On March 18, Shoigu was mentioned in a post on the Kremlin website saying that Vladimir Putin had discussed «the progress of the special operation in Ukraine» with the permanent members of the Security Council. Shoigu was allegedly present at the meeting. However, no video or photographs from the meeting were published.
On the same day, Channel One showed Shoigu presenting awards. The story said that the event took place «today,» but the picture in the story was the same as in the video published on the Defense Ministry website on March 11, Agents.media notes.
Previously, events with Shoigu's personal involvement took place every few days and were covered in detail by the media.
Agents.media also notes that no events involving the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, were reported after March 11. On that day, TASS published the news that Gerasimov held talks with his Turkish counterpart Yashar Guler.