Kremlin wants to hide real date of Putin's visit to Kherson Oblast

The Russian news outlet Agentstvo has reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson Oblast before Easter, and was not far from the border with Crimea.

Source: Agentstvo on Telegram; Kremlin-aligned news outlet RIA Novosti

Details: The outlet has drawn attention to the fact that the video of Putin's visit to Ukraine's Kherson Oblast, posted by propaganda media on 18 April, shows a stele at the entrance to Henichesk from the village of Novooleksiivka.

And also to the fact that in one of the shots, Putin hands the soldiers a copy of an icon that belonged to "one of the most successful ministers of defence of the Russian army in the nineteenth century" and says that "it's about to be Easter, right?".

Agentstvo has noted that Easter was on 16 April, so it can be concluded that the Russian dictator's trip to the temporarily occupied territories and meeting with the military took place last week.

Путін був на території тимчасово окупованої території Херсонської області ще до Великодня, і перебував недалеко від кордону з Кримом, повідомляє російське видання "Агентство". На відео він каже, що "Паска буде". Пізніше цей шматок відредагували. Відео з Telegram-каналу "Медузи" pic.twitter.com/W9dyMItwLJ

— Українська правда ✌️ (@ukrpravda_news) April 18, 2023

Later, Putin's remark about Easter in the Kremlin's video was edited, in particular, the word "will" was deleted [so that he appears to be saying "it’s Easter" – ed.].

The outlet has also noted that the video may give the impression that Putin arrived in Henichesk by helicopter. However, the footage of Putin's departure from the city shown later may indicate that he travelled by helicopter only through the territory of Crimea, and went to Kherson Oblast by car.

The footage of Putin's departure shows the Chonhar Hotel, located right on the border with Crimea. Several helicopters are circling over the hotel. 

The Kremlin has said that Putin's trips to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine were supposedly "not prepared in advance".

Later, the propaganda outlet RIA Novosti posted a comment by Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, who claimed that Putin had been in Ukraine on 17 April. He said that the commentators had allegedly hooked on one of the Russian dictator's phrases and immediately began to put forward supposedly "false hypotheses".

Quote from Peskov: "It was yesterday [17 April – ed.]. Indeed, the president, when he presented the icon, said that it is Easter. But the fact is that Easter lasts 40 days, it is celebrated for 40 days, and, moreover, it is Easter week now."

Background: 

• On 18 April, Russian propaganda media outlets reported that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had allegedly visited the headquarters of the Dnepr military group on the Kherson front and the Vostok group in Luhansk Oblast.

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