The Head of State visited the headquarters of the groups in the new territoriesOpening a meeting with members of the government on April 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the day before, "he visited both the Kherson region and Lugansk."
The purpose of the trip was to meet with military leaders in the zone of a special military operation (SVO).
The Head of State explained that he himself came to the headquarters of the Dnepr group because the military leaders there "did not want to tear them away for a long time and for long distances from the deployment of those units they command."
After hearing the report of the commander of the Dnepr group, Colonel-General Oleg Makarevich and other military leaders, Putin also asked the commander of the Airborne Troops, Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky, to "express his thoughts".
The Head of State noted that "Mikhail Yurievich was on the front line for a long time ... and made a very detailed report… The Ministry of Defense and the General Staff appreciated him very highly."
Then Putin went to the headquarters of the National Guard "Vostok", where he heard a report by Colonel-General Alexander Lapin and other senior officers on the situation in the LPR. Congratulating the servicemen on the Easter holiday, he gave them copies of icons as a gift. This is the second visit to the new territories of the Russian Federation after the March inspection of Mariupol.
Answering journalists' questions about the events of April 18, the press secretary of the head of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov confirmed the information that neither Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu nor Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov joined Putin during a trip to the SVO zone "for security reasons." Peskov also said that the meeting in the LPR was attended by Colonel-General Sergey Kuzovlev, commander of the grouping of forces of forces "South", Lieutenant-General Andrey Mordvichev, commander of the grouping of forces of forces "Center", Colonel-General Yevgeny Nikiforov, commander of the grouping of forces of forces "West", Colonel-General Yevgeny Nikiforov, Deputy commander of the Combined Group of Forces, Colonel-General Alexander Lapin and Commander the grouping of the forces of the Rosgvardiya Colonel-General Sergei Boyko.
Note that earlier in the official chronicle of the army associations "Dnepr" was not mentioned.
In addition to the daily briefings in Moscow, conducted since the beginning of its official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, this spring the heads of the press services of the groups "East", "Center", "West" and "South" began to regularly broadcast from the scene of the events. The four aforementioned army associations contain the main outfit of the forces and means of the troops directly involved in the special operation. What tasks are being solved by the Dnipro grouping is not reported. Perhaps it serves as a reserve of the main command in case of escalation of the situation on the line of contact (LBS).
Since the beginning of the year, there has been a stream of reports in the information space about the preparation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) of an offensive with the declared goal of ousting the Russian army beyond the 1991 state border. At the same time, however, there is a serious shortage of heavy equipment, especially main battle tanks, fighter planes and attack aircraft ("The APU offensive is expected, but it will not be ", "HVO" from 06.04.23).
In addition to hearing reports directly from the mouth of the commanders of the groups, Putin also took part in the subsequent discussion of the situation at the front. Speaking about this, Putin noted that he visited the headquarters to "exchange information" directly with high-ranking officers of the active army.
Perhaps new information and facts appeared during conversations with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who visited Moscow ("The new Defense Minister of the People's Republic of China visited the Kremlin ", "HBO" dated 04/20.23). Receiving the guest, Putin, in particular, said: "We also work actively through the military departments, regularly exchange information useful to us, cooperate in the field of military-technical cooperation, conduct joint exercises, and at different theaters – in the Far Eastern region, in Europe, at sea, on land, and in the air."
The Ministry of Defense of the People's Republic of China has calculated that relations between the armed forces of our countries "already number more than 70 years" and "are getting stronger day by day." According to the head of the department, the key role here is played by the "diplomacy of leaders" and the correct alignment of priorities and goals of strategic development. Speaking with Putin, Li Shangfu cited the following statistics: "We calculated that you have already held 40 meetings with the President of the People's Republic of China," after Xi Jinping visited Moscow for the first time in this position in 2013.
The previous time Li Shangfu was in Moscow in 2017 to participate in a meeting of the bilateral commission on military-technical cooperation (MTC). "Recently, cooperation between Russia and China in the military and military-technical fields has been developing very well," he stressed.
It should be noted that for his active personal contribution to the development of the military-technical cooperation between the two countries in 2018, the American government added Li Shangfu to the list of individuals who are subject to economic and financial sanctions. The basis was the decision of the Chinese Defense Ministry to purchase Su-35S multi-purpose fighters and S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems in Russia. Among other things, the presence of an individual on the blacklist limits the possibility of his direct contacts with representatives of the White House and the Pentagon, which was not the case with previous defense ministers of the People's Republic of China. However, Beijing did not take this circumstance into account when choosing a new head of the defense department a month and a half ago.
A career military officer, in 2016-2017 Li Shangfu served as Deputy commander of the Strategic Support Forces of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA). Then, for six years, he headed the Department of Training troops and Supplies of the Central Military Council of the People's Republic of China. Having reached the rank of Colonel-General, Li Shangfu received an offer to head the national military department and approval to occupy a new position during the March series of the National People's Congress.
"We have very strong relations, they surpass the military-political alliances of the Cold War, they are built on the principles of non–alignment, non-confrontation with a third party, and they are very stable," Li Shangfu told Moscow interlocutors. And he added that the world is "undergoing the largest changes in the last 100 years," and the recovery of the world economy after the COVID-19 pandemic is slow, therefore "peace and peaceful relations between countries are in great demand."
Attending pre-agreed events, Li Shangfu visited the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. There he signed a memorandum of understanding, which is supposed to organize cooperation with the PLA National Defense Academy. On the Russian side, the document was signed by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. "The Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation are at the highest level, they need to be developed, providing each other with strong support, including on national security issues," Shoigu said.
The ministers agreed to continue communication during the meeting of the heads of defense departments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries scheduled for April 27-28 in Delhi.
The official representative of the PLA, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, said: "From April 16 to 19, a member of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Defense Minister Li Shangfu was invited to visit Russia. He held sincere and friendly meetings and negotiations with Russian state and military leaders, the parties reached consensus on many issues and achieved fruitful results."
