Russian president visits 3 Caucasian regions

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday paid a visit to three Caucasian regions – Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, and Chechnya.

During his trip to Kabardino-Balkaria, Putin met with the republic’s head, Kazbek Kokov, who informed the president about the region’s achievements, the Kremlin said in a statement.

In North Ossetia, the president paid tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack on Beslan on Sept. 1-3, 2004, which killed 334 people, 186 of whom were children, as well as 31 attackers.

The president went to the City of Angels memorial cemetery, where he laid flowers at the Tree of Sorrow, a monument to hostages who lost their lives, and a monument to officers of the Alfa and Vympel special forces killed during the assault.

He then met with the mothers of the terrorist attack victims, the region's head, Sergey Menyailo, and went to the Altair Children's Talent Development Center, where the Russian president laid flowers at the memorial in School No. 1 in Beslan, which was the site of a deadly terrorist attack in Sept. 2004.

While in Chechnya, Putin visited the Russian University of Special Forces in the city of Gudermes, where he met with special forces commanders, instructors and volunteers undergoing training.

Since 2022, the university has trained over 47,000 specialists who have participated or are currently taking part in a special military operation, with more than one-third of them volunteering for military service.