Vladimir Putin met with defence ministers of Armenia, Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Mongolia, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan invited to a gala night marking Defender of the Fatherland Day at the State Kremlin Palace.

Vladimir Putin met with senior officials of the Defence Ministry and commanders of military districts and the Northern Fleet during his visit to the Peter the Great Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces.

Vladimir Putin visited the Peter the Great Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces, where he took part in an annual expanded meeting of the Defence Ministry Board.

On August 1–3, Vladimir Putin made a two-day stop in Tyva, southern Siberia, on his way to Blagoveshchensk. The President went to hard-to-access taiga, fished in a mountain lake cascade, went spearfishing, sunbathed, went down mountain rivers, rapids and anabranches on powerboats and rafts, went on mountain hikes on foot and quads.

On Navy Day, Vladimir Putin visited the Stavropegial Naval Cathedral of St Nicholas in Kronstadt accompanied by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Russian Defence Minister Serge Shoigu.

In the course of his trip to Alexandra Land in the Franz Josef Archipelago Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the comprehensive development of the Arctic region.

Mr Shoigu and Mr Lavrov briefed the President on work to resolve the Syrian crisis, in particular, agreements reached between the Syrian government and the opposition on a ceasefire and readiness to begin peace talks.

Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who briefed the President on the end of the operation to liberate the Syrian city of Aleppo.

The President took part in the annual expanded meeting of the Defence Ministry Board.

Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the leaders of the Defence Ministry, federal agencies and defence industry companies. The discussion focused on the implementation of the State Armaments Programme and the state defence order in 2016, and the Russian antiterrorist operation in Syria.

Vladimir Putin held a briefing session with permanent members of the Security Council.

Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), a national public organisation.

Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to address issues of settling the Syrian crisis. The President gave an order to begin withdrawing the main part of Russian troops from the Syrian Arab Republic on March 15.

Vladimir Putin held a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council.

In the course of a videoconference, the Chief of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, who was at the Opuk testing range in Crimea, and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu briefed the President on the inspection of the combat readiness of the Southern Military District troops.

Vladimir Putin took part in the annual expanded meeting of the Russian Federation Defence Ministry Board.

Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. In particular, the Defence Minister informed the President on the discovery of the flight data recorder from the Russian fighter jet shot down in Syria by the Turkish Air Force.

Vladimir Putin visited the National Defence Control Centre where he held a meeting to discuss the actions of Russia’s Aerospace Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic.

Late last night Vladimir Putin held a meeting in the Kremlin, where Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov reported on the causes of the crash of a Russian airliner over Sinai on October 31, 2015.

Vladimir Putin held a briefing session with permanent members of the Security Council.