(C) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
This story was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Russian defence minister Shoigu shown inspecting troops [1]

[]

Date: 2023-07-08

[1/3] Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspects troops at a shooting range in an unknown location in the country's Southern Military District, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in this image released July 8, 2023. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW, July 8 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected troops and overseen training of newly formed units made up of contracted servicemen, his ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry released video footage on its Telegram channel showing Shoigu in khaki military fatigues inspecting soldiers at a shooting range, in his first public appearance with troops since last month's aborted mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group.

The ministry did not say when the video was filmed or when the inspection took place.

Shoigu said on Monday that the mutiny did not affect Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Wagner fighters took over the southern Russian city of Rostov and advanced towards Moscow on June 24 as their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded the dismissal of Shoigu and chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.

The crisis was defused when Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal between the Kremlin and Prigozhin.

"The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation personally checked the training of contract servicemen in combat operations in various conditions, including urban combat," the defence ministry said on Saturday.

Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Alexander Smith

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-defence-minister-shoigu-shown-inspecting-troops-2023-07-08/

Published and (C) by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Content appears here under this condition or license: By permission of RFE/RL.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/rferl/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.