Putin inspects troops readying to fight Ukraine in surprise trip to Chechnya

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to the predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya on Wednesday, marking his first trip to the area in over a decade.

The visit has garnered significant attention, particularly after a video emerged showing Putin respectfully kissing a gifted Holy Quran and holding it close to his heart.

Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov inspected Chechen troops and volunteers readying to fight Ukraine, the Kremlin said, in what was Putin’s first trip in 13 years to the North Caucasus republic.

The previously unannounced trip to the mostly Muslim republic that is part of Russia comes as Moscow fights to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk region two weeks after they smashed through the border in the largest invasion of Russia since World War Two. “As long as we have men like you, we are absolutely, absolutely invincible,” Putin told troops at the Russian Special Forces University, a training school in Chechnya’s Gudermes, according to a transcript on the Kremlin’s website.

“It is one thing to shoot at a shooting range here, and another thing to put your life and health at risk. But you have an inner need to defend the Fatherland and the courage to make such a decision.”

The foreign occupation of Russian land has been an embarrassment for Putin and his army, even as Russian forces continue their gradual but steady advances on the frontline in eastern Ukraine.