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Putin visits two occupied regions in Ukraine, pushing illegal annexation

Video from the Kremlin released on April 18 shows Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting military headquarters in Ukraine's Kherson and Luhansk regions. (Video: Reuters, Photo: AP/Reuters)
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RIGA, Latvia — Russian President Vladimir Putin made a secretive visit to the headquarters of his troops in southern Ukraine’s partially occupied Kherson region, where the Russian military in November was forced to retreat from the regional capital despite Putin’s audacious and illegal claim that the territory and its people had been annexed by Russia “forever.”

In a sign of the Kremlin’s acute concerns about security, the visit Monday, which also included a stop in the occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, was not disclosed until Tuesday morning, after Putin had departed Ukraine. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists Tuesday afternoon that the trip took place a day earlier.

The trip was Putin’s second known visit to an area near the front lines since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and his first known visit to Luhansk since Russia began fomenting a bloody separatist war there in 2014.

Last month, Putin visited the occupied city of Mariupol, traveling under cover of darkness to tour the city, which Russia nearly destroyed in a siege last spring.

Monday’s trip, timed to Orthodox Easter, which was Sunday, signaled that despite repeated military setbacks, Putin has not given up his plan to seize four eastern and southeastern Ukrainian regions: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

In video clips broadcast by Russian state television early Tuesday, Putin was shown traveling by helicopter to a command post for Russian forces in the Kherson region and then to the Russian national guard staff headquarters in Luhansk.

In televised remarks, Putin congratulated his troops on the Easter holiday and gave the top brass reproductions of an icon, which Putin said once belonged “to one of the most successful ministers of defense of the Russian Empire.”

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The retreat by Russian troops from the city of Kherson in November was a personal blow to Putin, who announced his annexation claims at the end of September despite not having military control over the areas he intended to seize. Since then, the Russian forces have reinforced their positions on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“It is important for me to hear your opinion on how the situation is developing, to listen to you, to exchange information,” Putin told the commanders — Col. Gen. Mikhail Teplinsky, commander of Russia’s airborne troops, and Col. Gen. Oleg Makarevich — as they delivered reports on the combat situation in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

At Putin’s direction, the Russian constitution was rewritten to include the four regions, and people in the occupied areas are being issued Russian passports and must use the Russian ruble. But Russia has been forced to set up new regional capitals — for Kherson in Henichesk and for Zaporizhzhia in Melitopol — because the real capitals are controlled by Ukraine.

Putin’s visit also provided an opportunity for him to demonstrate the Kremlin’s support for recent high-profile appointments within Russia’s military ranks — the latest in a series of reshuffles that experts say is indicative of a dysfunctional chain of command and a core reason that Russia so far has failed to achieve the key goals of its brutal invasion.

British military intelligence said Sunday that Teplinsky, who was born in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, has been given a major role in the war after his apparent dismissal in January.

“Teplinsky is likely one of the few senior Russian generals widely respected by the rank-and-file,” the British Defense Ministry said. “His recent turbulent career suggests intense tensions between factions within the Russian General Staff about Russia’s military approach in Ukraine.”

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At the headquarters in Luhansk, Putin met with Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, who survived several reshuffles and bitter public criticism led by Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin and strongman Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Both Prigozhin and Kadyrov have sent irregular forces to Ukraine and have been locked in a battle with the Defense Ministry for influence over war policy.

Last fall, Kadyrov slammed Lapin as a “talentless” leader and a product of “nepotism” in the general-staff leadership. Kadyrov accused Lapin of deploying fighters from one of the pro-Russian separatist areas without proper support or preparation.

Lapin was removed as commander of the Central Military District, a senior post, but then promoted during a January shake-up to lead the Vostok grouping of troops of the national guard, an independent internal Russian military force that reports directly to Putin.

“The Kremlin’s press releases placed a particular emphasis on … Teplinsky and Lapin. Both went ‘on vacation,’ tantamount to dismissal due to disagreement with the course of the special military operation and the decisions made,” a pro-war analyst who goes by the handle Rybar wrote on Telegram.

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“Both returned, most likely in contradiction to the wishes of [Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu and [chief of the general staff Valery] Gerasimov,” Rybar added.

Shoigu and Gerasimov were seemingly absent from the meetings in Ukraine and are not known to have traveled that close to the front lines, prompting speculation about their diminished positions in the Russian military machine. Addressing what he said were “many questions as to why Shoigu and the chief of the general staff did not accompany the president during his trip,” Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Tuesday: “Well, first of all, it was inexpedient to gather the commander in chief, the defense minister and the chief of the general staff all in one place. To give such a temptation to the enemy, well, of course it is a great risk.”

Ukraine is believed to be preparing a counteroffensive to reclaim territories occupied by Russia. “The visit of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the eve of the Ukrainian counteroffensive is a step designed to inspire the personnel before the start of full-scale hostilities,” Rybar wrote.

Putin visited the port city of Mariupol last month in what was interpreted as a show of bravado ahead of the arrival of Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Moscow for a state visit. Putin’s trip marked his first known visit to Ukraine since the start of the invasion and occurred just after the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued a warrant for his arrest for alleged war crimes.

One year of Russia’s war in Ukraine

Portraits of Ukraine: Every Ukrainian’s life has changed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion one year ago — in ways both big and small. They have learned to survive and support each other under extreme circumstances, in bomb shelters and hospitals, destroyed apartment complexes and ruined marketplaces. Scroll through portraits of Ukrainians reflecting on a year of loss, resilience and fear.

Battle of attrition: Over the past year, the war has morphed from a multi-front invasion that included Kyiv in the north to a conflict of attrition largely concentrated along an expanse of territory in the east and south. Follow the 600-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces and take a look at where the fighting has been concentrated.

A year of living apart: Russia’s invasion, coupled with Ukraine’s martial law preventing fighting-age men from leaving the country, has forced agonizing decisions for millions of Ukrainian families about how to balance safety, duty and love, with once-intertwined lives having become unrecognizable. Here’s what a train station full of goodbyes looked like last year.

Deepening global divides: President Biden has trumpeted the reinvigorated Western alliance forged during the war as a “global coalition,” but a closer look suggests the world is far from united on issues raised by the Ukraine war. Evidence abounds that the effort to isolate Putin has failed and that sanctions haven’t stopped Russia, thanks to its oil and gas exports.

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