Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with commanders of Russian troops in Kherson region of Russia. Photo: Sputnik International.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Vostok National Guard staff in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), the Kremlin announced in a statement.
“Vladimir Putin visited the Vostok National Guard staff in the Lugansk People’s Republic, where he received reports from Col Gen Alexander Lapin and other senior officers on the situation in that area,” the statement said.
Putin’s visits to the staff of the Dnepr grouping of troops in the Kherson Region and to the Vostok National Guard staff in the Lugansk People’s Republic on Tuesday, April 18, were quite impromptu, the Kremlin press service said.
This was Vladimir Putin’s first visit to the LPR and the Kherson Region, which joined Russia after 2022 referendums.
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Earlier in the day, he visited the staff of the Dnepr grouping of troops in the Kherson Region.
“Vladimir Putin, at the staff of the Dnepr grouping of troops in the Kherson Region, listened to reports from the commander of the Airborne Troops, Col Gen Mikhail Teplinsky, the commander of the Dnepr grouping of troops, Col Gen Oleg Makarevich and other military leadership,” the Kremlin press service said.
“The head of state wished officers a Happy Easter and presented them with a copy of an icon that had belonged, Putin said, to ‘one of the most successful defense ministers of the Russian Empire’,” according to the presidential press service.
In March, Putin paid a surprise visit to Mariupol, inspecting the city infrastructure and talking to local residents. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin accompanied the president during the visit and reported on the progress of construction and restoration work in the city and its environs, discussing new residential micro-districts, social, educational and health facilities.
In mid-December 2022, Vladimir Putin visited the joint headquarters of the forces involved in the special military operation.
On 30 September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia, after referendums were held that showed that an overwhelming majority of the local population supported becoming part of Russia.
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 in response to calls by the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics for protection from Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation, which targets Ukrainian military infrastructure, aims to “demilitarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine, and to liberate Donbass.
Western nations have imposed numerous sanctions on Russia and have been supplying weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any cargo that contains weaponry for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia.
(Sputnik)
