Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday the situation in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow says it has annexed is “extremely difficult”.
“The situation in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts is extremely difficult,” Putin told the Federal Security Service.
In particular, the head of state addressed the security forces living in the “new regions of Russia”.
“The people living in these regions, the citizens of Russia, depend on you, on your protection,” he said.
Putin also said he needed “maximum composure and concentration of forces” in Russia’s counterintelligence operations.
“It is necessary to strictly suppress the actions of foreign intelligence agencies, quickly identify traitors, spies and saboteurs,” he added.
In September, Putin announced the annexation of four occupied territories in southern and eastern Ukraine after Moscowappointed officials organized referendums that Kyiv and its western allies viewed as a farce.
But Russian forces do not have complete control of any of these regions and were driven out of the eponymous regional capital of Kherson last month following a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
After several setbacks at the front, Moscow changed its strategy and began to focus its efforts on an air bombing campaign against military installations and the energy sector in Ukraine.