Russian President Vladimir Putin last night appointed Alexander Khinshtein as acting governor of Kursk region in southern part of the country, stating that “crisis management” in the area, which has been partially occupied by Ukrainian forces since August, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Features from a video posted on the Kremlin website show Putin offering the post to Hinstein, a journalist and longtime member of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
„I would like to offer you the post of acting governor of the Kursk region, as crisis management is needed there at the moment in view of the situation that has arisen there,” Putin tells Hinstein.
„And with the liberation of the territory from the enemy, of course, much will have to be done to restore housing and public services and to restore the economy of the territory as a whole, as well as this area that is now being liberated from our troops“, he adds.
Putin points out that in addition to Hinstein's experience in the legislature, for two years he was also an adviser to the National Guard of Russia and that his experience in the security forces “will have to be used to achieve the tasks, who stand before you“.
In Putin's words, Hinstein must do everything “so that the residents of the Kursk region can feel that they are part of the country”.
In a message on the website of the Kremlin, it is said that the current governor of the district, Alexey Smirnov, has resigned.
In August, Ukrainian troops carried out a large-scale incursion into the Kursk border region. The Russian military claims that part of the initially captured territory has been recaptured by Moscow's troops, Reuters points out.