One of the main topics of Russian President Vladimir Putin's address to the Federal Assembly on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be payments to the occupiers and their families. This is stated in the summary of British military intelligence, which the country's Ministry of Defense published on February 18 on Twitter.

 Intelligence sources note that Andriy Turchak, the leader of the Russian parliamentary group dealing with the so-called special military operation, reported on February 16 that he had handed over the group's report to Putin. Presumably, it raised the issue of the social status of the mobilized and their families.

 "This issue is likely to become more urgent if further mobilization (overt or implicit) takes place. Putin may well touch on these issues in his address to the nation on February 21, 2023," the message reads.

 The British Ministry of Defense believes that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Kremlin to distract the population from the war in Ukraine. A sociological survey conducted in December 2022 shows that 52% of Russians had friends or relatives who participated in the aggression in Ukraine.

 On February 15, the press secretary of the Kremlin, Dmytro Peskov, said that on February 21, Russian federal TV channels will allocate an hour to broadcast Putin's address to the Federal Assembly, TASS reported.

 We will remind, according to the constitution of the Russian Federation, the President of Russia must deliver a message to the Federal Assembly every year. However, Putin last addressed the parliament in April 2021. In December 2022, it became known that the message will not take place until the end of the year (as well as the traditional annual press conference): it has been postponed until 2023. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmytro Peskov, attributed this to Putin's "busy schedule."

 "Meduza" published approximate theses of Putin's speech before the Federal Assembly. According to the interlocutors of the publication, the head of the Kremlin is going to declare the "cohesion" of Russians and their "unquestionable support" for the war.