MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has put Andrei Troshev, a retired colonel and former chief of staff of the Wagner group, in charge of setting up volunteer units.
"We discussed at the last meeting that you would focus on forming volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of the special military operation," Putin said at his meeting with Troshev and Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, which took place on Thursday.
"You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year. You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work proceeds in the best and most successful way," the president said.
Putin also proposed discussing issues concerning social support for people taking part in the special military operation.
"I have said many times and want to repeat once again that regardless of the status of a person who is performing or performed combat tasks, social guarantees must be absolutely equal for all. It makes no difference to the country, in what status the person fought and defended the fatherland," he said.
"Yunus-Bek Bamatgireyevich [Yevkurov] will brief us on how this work is going in general, and Andrei Nikolayevich [Troshev] will report the details," Putin said.
Deputy Defense Minister Yevkurov coordinates the process of combat training in the Russian Armed Forces.