Russian President Vladimir Putin – SPUTNIK/AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the situation in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow claims it has annexed is “extremely difficult”.
“The situation in the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is extremely difficult,” Putin told the Federal Security Service.
The head of state addressed in particular the security agents who live in the “new regions of Russia”.
“The people who live in these regions, the citizens of Russia, depend on you, on your protection,” he declared.
Putin also said he needs “maximum composure and concentration of forces” in Russia’s counterintelligence operations.
“It is necessary to strictly suppress the actions of foreign intelligence services, quickly identify traitors, spies and saboteurs,” he added.
In September, Putin announced the annexation of four occupied territories in southern and eastern Ukraine, after Moscow-designated officials held referendums that Kiev and its western allies consider a sham.
But Russian troops are not in complete control of any of these regions and last month they were expelled from the regional capital of Kherson, which bears the same name, after a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
After several setbacks on the battlefront, Moscow changed its strategy and began to focus its efforts on an aerial bombing campaign against military installations and the energy sector in Ukraine.
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