MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - Col. Gen. Mikhail Teplinsky, deputy commander of the joint group of forces, who presented a report to President Vladimir Putin on the situation in the Kherson and Zaporozhye theaters of operations at the headquarters of the Dnepr group of forces on Monday, remains commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
"Teplinsky remains the Airborne Forces commander," Peskov said.
Informing journalists earlier on Tuesday about Putin's visit to the headquarters of the Dnepr group of forces in the Kherson area and the Russian National Guard's Vostok headquarters in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), Peskov explained who had personally accompanied Putin.
While in the Kherson region, Putin received reports from Col. Gen. Oleg Makarevich, commander of the Dnepr group of forces, Andrei Kuzmenko, commander of the Vostok group of forces, and Mikhail Teplinsky, deputy commander of the joint group of forces, Peskov said.
Among the high-ranking military officials attending the president's conference in the LPR, Peskov also mentioned Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, the deputy commander of the joint group of forces.
Asked whether his words meant that Teplinsky, Lapin, and Kuzmenko had received new appointments, Peskov refrained from commenting.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on January 11 that Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Valery Gerasimov was appointed commander of the joint group of forces in the special military operation zone in Ukraine. Aerospace Forces Commander Sergei Surovikin, Ground Forces Commander Oleg Salyukov, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Alexei Kim were appointed Gerasimov's deputies, the ministry said at the time. Before January 11, the Russian joint group of forces in the special military operation zone was led by Surovikin.