Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has paid a rare visit to Russian troops serving in occupied Ukraine – a visit that’s probably as much about optics as about the course of Russia’s invasion.
A short video released by the Russian Defense Ministry showed Shoigu in a helicopter and then briefly with commanders amid some heavily damaged buildings. It was not immediately possible to geolocate the video. The Defense Ministry said Shoigu “inspected the forward command post of one of the formations of the Vostok [Eastern] forces in the South Donetsk direction.” The video did not suggest Shoigu was close to the most active front lines.
The video released by the Defense Ministry showed Shoigu at a meeting with three senior officers involved in the conflict: Colonel Generals Mikhail Mizintsev, Sergei Rudskoy, and Rustam Muradov. This is probably intended to show that the Defense Ministry is firmly in control of the operation, despite Prigozhin’s comments. But it’s somewhat puzzling that the man directly in charge of the whole operation – Valery Gerasimov – did not appear to be part of this well-choreographed visit.
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