Putin examined a missile system immediately before meeting the U.S. Secretary of State. Coincidence? • Медуза • RIMA — архив российских независимых медиа
Putin examined a missile system immediately before meeting the U.S. Secretary of State. Coincidence?
Vladimir Putin has begun a series of military visits. On May 13, the president visited the Kazan Aviation Factory, where he examined Tu-160, Tu-95MC, and Tu-22 airplanes as well as a Mi-38T helicopter. On Tuesday, he will visit a Defense Ministry flight test facility in Akhtubinsk, where he will tour, among other things, a Kinzhal hypersonic missile system. Afterward, the Russian president will travel to Sochi for negotiations with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, called on the American government to look past that timing. He said the military visits were planned long before “a small window opened up in the president’s schedule that allowed him to welcome the U.S. Secretary of State.”
Cover photo: Alexey Nikolsky / Sputnik / Scanpix / LETA
