The families of soldiers who died in the war in Ukraine, who were received by Vladimir Putin for Orthodox Christmas, had been carefully chosen by the Kremlin from among people linked to the government and the army. Some of those present had already appeared at other events with the Russian president. The Institute for the study of war turns the spotlight on the event that took place on the holiday in Russia. Putin, according to the ISW, will continue to use this type of meeting for his presidential election campaign in order to show himself as a leader sensitive to the requests of military families.
What happened
The families of the five fallen chosen by the Kremlin, the opposition outlet Agentsevo reported, all have ties to the government and military and their loved ones were decorated in memory as Heroes of Russia or the Order of Courage. The people involved in the event are apparently known. One widow is the head of the Committee of Families of Homeland Soldiers, another heads the Tambov branch of the Homeland Foundation created by the Kremlin. Two of the children had already attended an event with Putin on November 4.
One of the fallen was the rector of the church at the headquarters of the Strategic Missile Forces, known as the “priest of the paratroopers” for having participated in war operations in Chechnya and Syria.
The Kremlin carefully chose the families “to avoid the risk that they might say or ask for inappropriate things”, notes the American think tank, after there were protests by wives of soldiers who went to fight in Ukraine.
On the eve of Orthodox Christmas, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin “had an in-depth conversation with families, spoke with both widows and children” in Novo-Ogaryovo, and then invited guests to the Christmas dinner Christmas. In his congratulatory speech, the president stressed that “our heroes serving in the special military operation deserve our sincere and deepest respect.”
The meeting with the families of soldiers killed in the conflict came in the aftermath of the tragic prediction of the British Ministry of Defense according to which, by 2024 and if deaths among the ranks of Moscow's army continue at this rate, Russia risks losing over 500 thousand men in Ukraine.
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