Putin is ‘too busy’ to attend G20 next week, Moscow claims

Vladimir Putin is not going to the G20 summit next week because he is ‘too busy’, the Kremlin has said. 

Dmitry Peskov, the president’s spokesman, said Putin’s schedule meant he could not leave Russia for the meeting which will take place on November 15 and 16. 

‘This was the head of state’s decision, given his schedule and the necessity of him staying in the Russian Federation,’ Peskov said.

He spoke after a Russian political analyst said Putin may be skipping the meeting because he fears being assassinated or humiliated by other governments. 

Sergey Markov spuriously claimed that the secret services of the UK, US or Ukraine might try to take Putin out at the meeting, which will take place in Indonesia.

He also theorised that Putin is scared of being humiliated, possibly by being tripped over or pushed to the ground, and that he doesn’t want to face other leaders after the retreat from Kherson because they will try to pressure him into a full capitulation.

Markov is among a number of prominent Russians lambasting the government over the surrender in Kherson, after defence minister Sergei Shoigu and General Sergei Surovikin were hauled on state TV last night to announce it. 

Markov wrote: ‘The reasons as to why Putin is not going to G20 are serious –

‘1) There is a big possibility of an assassination attempt on Putin from the special services of the US, Britain and Ukraine

‘2) A possibility of humiliating situations. For example, some disabled social activist knocks Putin down – as if accidentally – and all world media splash a picture with a caption ‘President of Russia is down on all fours’.

‘I am certain this kind of situation is being planned by some completely mad Westerners.

‘3) After defeat in Kherson, Russia’s status as a great state is questionable. They will be putting pressure on, and demand soft capitulation.’

He – among other prominent voices – has lambasted the regime over the latest military setback.

‘If Russia wants to win, we must switch the economy into a military regime,’ he said.

‘This decision is already six months late. We have got to be tougher. Tougher. Drones, communication, missiles and shells must be produced by our factories 24/7.’

War correspondent Anastasia Kashevarova – a state TV correspondent and former aide to Vyacheslav Volodin, loyalist speaker of the Russian parliament – raged at ‘who and why’ was Kherson surrendered.

‘We bit a huge bite, couldn’t swallow it and are burping it back now. We burped out Izyum, Balakleya, Liman,’ she posted.

‘What was the great plan? ‘And anyway, what does a ‘Victory’ mean to us all? What should we do? What results must we achieve? Where should we reach so that it’s clear – this is it, this is the Victory? 

‘No-one knows. I think they don’t know about it in the Kremlin and nor in the Ministry of Defence.’

Sergey Mardan, war analyst for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, warned: ‘The Special Military Operation ends today with the retreat from the Russian city of Kherson. And the long war begins. Trust me, it will be long.’

Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion formed in May 2014 in the Donbas, and a former commander of Ukraine’s Alpha special forces, said: ‘I have known for at least two weeks of the final decision on Kherson.

‘I knew, and a narrow circle of military people around me knew. ‘I’ll tell you honestly – it was not easy to live with this knowledge.

‘It is hard, difficult and bitter, I want to say a lot of sharp words, but [it won’t help].’

A man was detained outside the Kremlin with a poster declaring: ‘Traitors. You f***ed it all up’.

He was detained by police.

Bad-tempered propagandist Vladimir Solovyov hit back on state TV at a critic who told him to go to the front instead of using his comfortable studio seat to lament the performance of mobilised men in the war.

‘Are you writing this to me from a trench, scum…?

‘Our government is doing everything it can.

‘I’ll go to the front when I’m drafted.

‘When they need a 59-year-old, I will go to the front.

‘And I’ve asked, and more than once….[and been refused].

‘No-one must know [our war commander] General [Sergei] Surovikin’s plans.

‘General Armageddon

‘Until the moment of implementation and realisation.’

But Solovyov – seen as Putin’s voice – admitted Russia was now at ‘a difficult moment’.

He told his critics: ‘If you can’t be supportive, shut up. Just shut up.’

State run media outlets like RT and Sputnik were hit by a wave of hostile comments criticising Putin and his commanders over the retreat and other war failures.

Dmitry posted: ‘Will we give away Crimea, too… How long will this go on for?’

Alla said: ‘What a disgrace! Why were there so many deaths then, why did we start it all?’

Sergey posted: ‘Looks like [the commanders] lost the ability to fight.’ Another user said: ‘What lousy f***wits.’

Sergey ranted: ‘Perhaps we will give away Moscow, too?

‘Why the f*** did we carry out mobilisation? To give away territory? People are shocked.’

Nikolay asked: ‘So when will we give away Crimea and Donetsk?’ Vladimir posted: ‘Shame. To give a Russian city away without a fight. This current authority is done. The fifth column won.’

Another man, Vladislav complained: ‘This is a circus, not military commanders. One disgrace after the other.’

One Russian user said of Putin: ‘So the Emperor has no clothes .’

A commenter said Putin had surrendered his power and he and his entourage were ‘traitors to the people’.

State media network RT chief Margarita Simonyan, one of Putin’s most loyal propagandists, claimed there was a ‘sly plan’ in the surrender.

And she asked: ‘Did you want the road lined with bodies of the mobilised?’

Loyalist MP and military expert Lt-General Andrey Gurulev hit back: ‘Stop whining and winging. If he did it like this, then it was necessary.’

Putin’s ‘chef’ Yevgeny Prigozhin – who is rumoured to want to be made defence minister – praised war commander General Sergei Surovikin, saying: ‘Naturally this is not a victorious step, but it’s important not to agonise, not to get paranoid. ‘It wasn’t an easy decision taken by Surovikin.

‘But he acted as a man who wasn’t scared of responsibility.’

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Surovikin signalled the retreat at a special meeting which Putin avoided attending.

Instead Putin was instead seen seeking divine intervention at a brain clinic.

Orthodox believer Putin made the sign of the cross at the operating room, in which an open brain operation was taking place, at the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, which is marking its 75th anniversary.

He later attended a Kremlin party for the agency.