Putin Meeting Was Likely Attempt To Deflect Blame for Ukraine Failures-U.K.

Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to divert the blame for his troops' failures in Ukraine through his publicized meeting with top military officials last week, British defense officials have said.

On December 17, Putin was filmed with Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and other military chiefs.

The Kremlin said on its website that Putin had been to the headquarters of the military branches involved in the war in Ukraine, where he held a conference and meetings with the commanders.

He also invited proposals for the next steps of the war that the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" and the Commander of the Russian Group of Forces in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin, presented a report.

In its daily assessment, that emphasizes Russian losses and Ukrainian gains, the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MOD) said on Tuesday that the "choreographed meeting" was probably intended "to demonstrate collective responsibility" for the war.

"This display likely aimed to deflect Putin's responsibility for military failure, high fatality rates and increasing public dissatisfaction from mobilization," the MOD said.

Russian military bloggers have been among those who have criticized the botched draft, which was beset by complaints of a lack of training and equipment for recruits. Putin's invasion has also been marked by humiliating retreats, most recently from Kherson.

"The televised footage was probably designed to also dispel social media rumors of General Gerasimov's dismissal," the MOD added.

This refers to reports on Russian Telegram channels that Putin would fire Gerasimov and replace him with a "compromise candidate" acceptable to both the armed forces and the Kremlin's inner circle.

The unverified rumors about Gerasimov, who has overseen the Russian military's modernization since 2012, were reported by Western officials and media outlets but have been rejected by the Russian defense ministry.

Over the course of the war there have been reports that Shoigu had gone missing, been suspended and been fired, although he remains at the helm of the defense ministry.

Senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Andrew Monaghan, told Newsweek he did not believe the meeting was, as the MOD said, intended to dispel social media rumors, "even if that might be a consequence of it."

Rather, he said Putin's talks with his military chiefs were in anticipation of the main annual Ministry of Defense meeting in which Shoigu is expected to present "his plans for the 'refresh' of Russian military strategy."

In a piece published on the website of the London think tank on Monday, Monaghan wrote that rumors about Gerasimov and Russia's wider defense leadership, "are essentially based on calls for a new strategy" in Ukraine.

This included questions about "who will oversee the implementation of what reforms, and how will this shape core tasks into the mid-2020s?"

Monaghan wrote that Shoigu's strategy on the development of the armed forces, to be delivered this month, will clarify "how Moscow understands the scale of the war going into 2023 and what any further escalation might look like."