Russia's defence minister who has not been seen in public in nearly two weeks 'has a lot on his plate', the Kremlin has claimed.
Top Kremlin official Sergei Shoigu, seen by many as one of the architects of the invasion of Ukraine, has mysteriously vanished from public life.
Despite being a prominent front and public facing figure for the war's early efforts, the defence minister seemed to disappear.
After not being seen in public for 13 days now, the Kremlin has come out to publicly address the issue as rumours swirl over a growing rift between him and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
When asked why he has not appeared in public for a while, the Kremlin answered that the official had a lot on his plate, and that now was not the time for media activity.
This is despite him repeatedly speaking out in the first few weeks of the war.
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However, as the war effort in Ukraine stalled and stuttered, and plans of a 'lightning invasion' that would last days, turned into a weeks long prolonged conflict, there were rumours Putin was beginning to grow angry with the men around him.
Reportedly, he was said to be unwell, and even had "heart problems" previously, investigative news outlet Agentstvo was told by a source close to the minister.
On March 18, the last reference to any work Shoigu did, the Kremlin website said he and Putin had discussed "the progress of the special operation in Ukraine" with permanent members of the security council.
However he was not pictured at all and has not been seen in person for days now.
On the same day, state-controlled Channel One aired a story about Shoigu presenting awards.
He was previously seen as one of Putin's closest and most loyal allies, but strains reportedly appeared over the course of the invasion.
This was not just between Putin and Shoigu, but reportedly between Putin and other leading army chiefs.
Shoigu’s daughter Ksenia, 31, appeared with her baby in pictures recently wearing yellow and her baby blue, the colours of the Ukrainian, leading some to speculate,
In June last year his sister Larisa Shoigu, 68, died of Covid.
This development comes as Putin has reportedly launched a witch-hunt of his most trusted inner circle to find the “guilty men” responsible for the failure of his war strategy.
The Russian president was said to be “incandescent” as his military plans were leaked to the West, who shared them with his Ukrainian enemies.
At almost every step of the war so far, Ukrainian resistance has frustrated and hampered Russian invasion efforts.
Their failure is seen as one of the main reasons several of his top generals and elite forces have been eliminated during the four weeks of warfare.
Putin is said to be growing weary of his close ally and vacation friend Sergei Shoigu, Russia ’s defence minister, who is in overall charge of the stalling military operation.
Long-time ally FSB security service head Alexander Bortnikov is also under pressure, as is Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff.
Another target of Putin’s fury is Igor Kostyukov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed forces, who may face imminent removal.
A source said: "He is incandescent that US and UK intelligence appear to know the Russian army’s next moves all the time, starting with predicting the invasion before he was ready to acknowledge it."
It comes as the Kremlin admitted more than 10,000 Russian soldiers have so far been killed in Ukraine, with thousands more injured.
