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Putin Meets With Top General at Southern Military HQ

Sergey Guneev / TASS

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the top military commanders at an army headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin said early Saturday.

Moscow gave no details on when the meeting took place but footage released by state media indicated it was at night.

"Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don," the Kremlin said in a statement, using its preferred term for its invasion of Ukraine. 

"[Putin] listened to briefings by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, commanders... and other senior officers of the group."

The state-run RIA Novosti news agency published a video of the Russian leader, who wore a suit, stepping out of an SUV in the dark and being greeted by Gerasimov.

Video also showed Putin leading a meeting with high-ranking army officials at the Rostov-on-Don headquarters, which in June was taken over by the Wagner mercenary outfit during its short-lived mutiny. 

Gerasimov, who Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin sought to unseat during the uprising, has made few public appearances since the dramatic confrontation between the mercenary group and the Russian armed forces. 

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