Kremlin responds to report Putin visited military operation zone

20.12.2022 23:29

Kremlin responds to report Putin visited military operation zone
kremlin.ru

The Kremlin has commented on a statement by Andrey Gurulev, a retired general and MP, who earlier said that Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a special military operation zone as Russia continues its campaign against Ukrainian forces.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gurulev said that “our commander-in-chief has been to the special military operation zone,” referring to Putin.

“When it comes to the visit to the special military operation zone, it … was very important that [the president] did not just receive a report on the situation… but talked to every commander personally,” the retired general said, adding that “personal communication provides full understanding of what is happening now and what would happen in the future.”

“If he [Gurulev] means the headquarters, where he [Putin] was on Friday, then yes,” Peskov told Russia’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

Earlier, the Kremlin said in a statement that the president spent a day at the joint headquarters of the forces engaged in the Russian military campaign in Ukraine. Putin received a report on the situation on the frontlines, held a military council and met with commanders, the statement read. The Kremlin did not disclose at that time that the president had visited the operation zone.

According to the Russian TASS news agency, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov visited the headquarters together with the president. On Sunday, the Defense Ministry also said that Shoigu inspected the troops in Russia’s southern military district and in the special operation zone, including forces on the frontline.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that would never join any Western military bloc. This fall, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, along with Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, formally joined Russia after voting overwhelmingly in favor of the move in referendums.