Kremlin-Putin To Set 2023 Military Aims In Wednesday Meeting

Multiple outlets reporting comment from the Kremlin stating that President Vladimir Putin is set to lay out his administration's military aims for 2023 in a defence meeting tomorrow, Wednesday 21 December.

• With Putin's annual marathon press conference called off earlier in the month, the 21 Dec meeting could be one of the clearest signals of Putin's intent with regards to the war in Ukraine in the coming months.
• Will come two days after Putin's meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk. There is speculation that Putin is seeking to pressure Lukashenko to offer more overt support to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• However, following the 2020 presidential election in Belarus the country saw major anti-regime protests that at points looked like it might result in the removal of Lukashenko from power. Moscow will be aware of the risk of pushing Lukashenko to commit to the war, which in turn could spark anti-gov't protests and raise the prospect of an anti-Moscow gov't coming to power in Minsk.