Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Russian officials at the headquarters during his visit to the territory of the Kherson region and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR). He announced this in a video message, as reported by RIA Novosti.
He added that he came in order not to call the army to his side and not to separate them from their posts.
“The situation requires them to be in their place,” said Putin.
The President visited the headquarters of the Dnepr group in the Kherson region and the headquarters of the Vostok National Guard in the LPR. In both places, he heard reports from the military about the state of affairs in the war zone.
Also, Putin congratulated the soldiers on Easter and donated them copies of the Unmade Savior icon. Legend has it that this is an image of the face of Jesus Christ, miraculously imprinted on an obrus – a handkerchief with which Christ wiped his face. The face of the Unmade Savior was depicted on the battle banners of the Russian kingdom and Moscow principality in the Middle Ages.
Neither Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu nor the commander of the Russian troops in the NVO region Valery Gerasimov were accompanying Putin during the visit. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that military leaders attended the meetings via video link.
It is reported that Putin flew to the headquarters area of Dnepr troops by helicopter and then reached the command post by car. The Commander-in-Chief of Russia also went by helicopter to the headquarters of the Vostok group in the LPR.
Peskov also commented on the news that Putin allegedly did not visit the Kherson and Luhansk regions on April 18 – “now it will be Easter” in the video – Easter Sunday was April 16. As a Kremlin spokesperson explained,
In Orthodoxy, Easter “lasts 40 days, and this week is Easter – they accidentally caught this phrase right away and began to make hypotheses about what was not.”
Putin also drew attention to the fact that the residents of the region use old domestic cars during his trip to the new regions.
“I have not seen such a large number of old cars – Lad and Zhiguli – for a long time. This shows that people’s incomes are quite modest. Parking immediately gives rise to certain thoughts,” Putin said at a meeting with the government.
The chairman noted that the incomes of LPR residents are modest, and the price level is even higher than in the Rostov region. He instructed Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin to consider solving this problem.
“Support agricultural producers, expand local processing opportunities, invest: give local people an opportunity or attract investment from other regions, create suitable storage bases for goods in these regions,” said the President.
At the end of March 2023, Vladimir Putin arrived in Donbass for the first time – he visited Mariupol, where he examined a new residential area in the middle of the city, which was destroyed during the fighting.