Russians have the "genetic code of a winner", President Vladimir Putin said today, quoted by TASS, BTA reported.
Putin made the comment at a meeting with the governor of the Sakhalin region Valery Limarenko on one of the Kuril Islands - Iturup. Earlier today, the Russian president, who has been in power for a quarter of a century, arrived on his first visit to this archipelago in the Far East.
Limarenko reported to Putin that even at meetings with local residents in the most remote areas, people say: "Everything for victory" - a mobilization motto for the war against Ukraine.
"Such is our people. (Russians) have the genetic code of a winner", Putin replied.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived today on his first visit to the Kuril Islands, TASS reported. The head of state's visit is to Iturup Island, which is in the southern part of the archipelago.
The Kuril Islands are the subject of a historical dispute between Russia and Japan, Reuters points out. The two countries have still not signed a peace treaty for World War II due to the territorial dispute over the islands, which the Japanese call the Northern Territories.
So far, Russian state leaders have visited the Kuril Islands 5 times, TASS notes. Dmitry Medvedev did this 4 times - on 3 occasions as president and once as prime minister. The current prime minister Mikhail Mishustin is also visiting, and it is precisely to Iturup Island, where Putin arrived today.
The Russian president is on a tour of Siberia and the Far East. Yesterday he was on board the missile cruiser "Varyag" in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - on Sakhalin Island, where he listened to a report on an ongoing exercise.