TSAMTO, March 11. The captured weapons captured during the special operation in Ukraine will be transferred to the military units of the LPR and DPR. The proposal of Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu on this issue was supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This issue was discussed during an operational meeting with permanent members of the Security Council, which was held by Vladimir Putin on March 11.
Addressing the President of the country, S. Shoigu noted that "against the background of the fact that there are absolutely uncontrolled supplies of weapons, various weapons to Ukraine from all sides (in my opinion, no one there already considers who, where, how much is distributed), it has been said more than once today, we have a proposal: to ensure a higher combat capability of the militia of the LPR and DPR to transfer air defense means, in particular MANPADS, and anti-tank missile systems to them" (meaning Russian-made systems - ed.).
In addition, according to S. Shoigu, "we have accumulated a large number of captured Ukrainian weapons: these are tanks, armored vehicles, all types of small arms, artillery. In addition, there are many Javelin and Stinger complexes. It is also proposed to transfer this to the Lugansk and Donetsk republics, the militia, so that they can more effectively carry out the defense of their republics."
V. Putin expressed agreement with S. Shoigu. According to the President, "as for the supply of weapons, especially of Western production, which turned out to be in the hands of the Russian army, of course, I support the possibility of transferring them to the military units of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics. Please do it. If you need any solutions here at my level, please, I'm ready."
The second question concerned applications from volunteers from different countries who would like to come to the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics in order to participate in the liberation movement.
According to Shoigu, "the largest number of applications comes from the countries of the Middle East: more than 16 thousand applications have already been submitted. And here, of course, we consider it right to respond positively to requests, especially since these requests are not for money, but according to the true desire of these people. We know many of them, they helped in the fight against ISIS in the most difficult time, in the last ten years."
Vladimir Putin agreed with S. Shoigu's proposal. According to the President, "as for the gathering of mercenaries from all over the world and sending them to Ukraine, we see that they do not hide it, the Western sponsors of Ukraine, the Ukrainian regime, do not hide it, they do it openly, ignoring all norms of international law. Therefore, if you see that there are people who want to come on a voluntary basis, especially not for money, and help people living in the Donbas – well, we need to meet them halfway and help them move to the war zone."
The third question of S. Shoigu concerned the strengthening of the western borders of the Russian Federation.
According to the Defense Minister, "The General Staff has reviewed all the measures that the West is taking to strengthen its forces at our western borders. There is a daily arrival of more and more new units…It seems to us that taking advantage of the current situation, they want to saturate our border area on the other side as much as possible with forces, means and, of course, consolidate this, it seems, for a long time. Based on this, the General Staff is developing and has actually completed a plan to strengthen our western borders, including, of course, those new, modern complexes, and to move combat units there to protect our western borders. We ask for your instructions and at the next Security Council, or in another format, to report to you our proposals for their approval."
Answering this question, Vladimir Putin noted: "as for strengthening the western borders of the Russian Federation in connection with the actions that NATO countries are taking in this direction, as if in response to what they are doing, this requires separate consideration. I ask you to prepare a separate report and report back. Based on the results of its discussion, we will make an appropriate decision in the near future."
