epa09935797 Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with the father of the late commander of the Sparta Battallion Colonel Vladimir Zhoga, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 09 May 2022. President Putin presented Artem Zhoga with the Gold Star medal of the Hero of Russia, which his son was posthumously awarded with. Zhoga died in what the Russian president declared a 'special military operation' in Ukraine.  EPA/MIKHAIL METZEL / KREMLIN POOL / SPUTNIK / POOL MANDATORY CREDIT