Putin makes surprise trip to Chechnya amid Ukraine's cross-border incursion
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made an unscheduled trip to Chechnya, a mainly Muslim republic within the Russian Federation. He was greeted by Chechnya's self-styled strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov, shown here on his left.
The trip on Tuesday was his first visit in nearly 13 years, and came as Ukraine's stunning cross-border incursion into western Russia entered its third week.
Putin visited a special forces academy bearing his own name and speaking with volunteer fighters who train there prior to being deployed in Ukraine.
Putin praised the volunteers and said that as long as Russia has men like them, it will be "invincible," according to reports by Russian state agencies.
Putin also inspected captured NATO military equipment seized by Russian troops on the battlefields of Ukraine.
Kadyrov said in a post on his official Telegram channels that more than 47,000 fighters, including volunteers, have trained at the facility since Moscow began what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Fighters from Chechnya, whose bid for independence after the Soviet Union's collapse led to years of war with Russian government forces, are participating on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine.
Putin remains a popular strongman leader with many people in Chechnya including this young man who was granted a selfie with the Russian President.
But pro-Ukraine volunteers loyal to Dzhokhar Dudayev, the late Chechen pro-independence leader, are the sworn enemies of Chechen forces that back Putin and Kadyrov.
During his trip, Putin visited the grave of Kadyrov's father, former Chechen leader Akhmat Kadyrov.
At the end of the day, he held talks with the Chechen leader, who announced the republic has "tens of thousands" of reservists ready to fight the Ukrainians, according to Russian state media reports.
The reports did not specify whether any of these might be sent to repel Kyiv's incursion into the Russian region of Kursk.
The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to keep the North Caucasus stable following years of turmoil.
International rights groups have accused Kadyrov's security forces of extrajudicial killings, torture and abductions of dissenters, but Russian authorities have stonewalled repeated demands for investigations.
Before his surprise visit to Chechnya, Putin was earlier in Beslan, a town in the Caucasus province of North Ossetia, where he had his first meeting in nearly two decades with mothers of children killed in the 2004 school attack by Islamic militants that left more than 330 dead.
Putin attended a ceremony to lay flowers at the City of Angels cemetery, where the victims of the 2004 Beslan school siege were buried.
Russian forces, such as this self-propelled gun crew, continue to battle Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
While visiting Chechnya, Putin slammed Kyiv's incursion, accusing the Ukrainians of "trying to destabilise" the part of Russia.
"We will punish the criminals. There can be no doubt about that," he said.
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