Putin went into hiding again - his default crisis mode.
Putin stopped appearing in public amid escalation with the West.

Putin last appeared in public almost two weeks ago. After that, the Kremlin began to create the appearance of the head of state's work with the help of "canned" reports on his meetings, which in fact took place several weeks or even months earlier.

The practice of "deferred" publications, or, as journalists call them, "canned food", about Putin's meetings is not new: it is regularly used by the Kremlin to show the continuity of the president's work. But recently, the time between real meetings and the publication of reports about them has increased significantly, Faridaily noted.

The Kremlin reported that on November 12, Putin met with the head of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, Vladimir Vasilyev. At the meeting, Putin tells Vasilyev that his party is "actively involved" in the preparation of the budget, although it was submitted to the State Duma on September 30 and approved in the first reading on October 24.

Putin spoke about the work on the budget and its support in the first reading with the head of the New People faction Alexei Nechaev. According to the Kremlin, the meeting took place on November 19, but the budget had already been adopted in the second reading on November 14. Moreover, on the day of the alleged meeting, Nechaev visited an exhibition in the State Duma and in the photo from it looks completely different from the fake report presented by the presidential administration.

A similar story happened with the leader of the LDPR faction, Leonid Slutsky: he spoke in the State Duma on the day when, according to the Kremlin, his meeting with Putin took place. Moreover, according to the official report, Slutsky spoke with Putin at about the same time as his speech in the lower house of parliament.

According to Faridaily's sources, the delay in the publication of "canned" materials from Putin's meetings on the Kremlin website has already reached two months. Putin last appeared in public on November 7 at the Valdai Forum. Even his press parrot Peskov may not know where Putin is hiding at this time.

@freerussia_report