Putin 'includes' occupied territories in Southern Military District of Russian Federation
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree "On the Military-Administrative Division," according to which the Leningrad and Moscow Military Districts are re-established in Russia, and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are 'included' in the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation.
This is reported by Ukrinform citing the official portal of the aggressor country.
It should be clarified that the temporarily occupied Crimea and Sevastopol were previously included in the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation by the Kremlin.
In turn, military districts with centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg existed in Russia until 2010. Russian Defense Minister Serhii Shoihu announced plans to re-form them at the end of 2022 when he presented the army reform. At the time, it was noted that the troops of the Western Military District, headquartered in St. Petersburg, had suffered a severe defeat during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
As reported, on September 30, 2022, Putin signed documents on the 'accession' of the entities 'DPR' and 'LPR', as well as the territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine captured by the Russian army, to the Russian Federation.