War in Ukraine: Putin visits Crimea on anniversary of annexation

President of Russia Vladimir Putin He arrived in Crimea on Saturday, the anniversary of the ninth anniversary of attachment This Ukrainian peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014, Russian public television announced.

“Our President knows how to surprise”

On a surprise visit to Sevastopol, the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, Vladimir Putin visited an art school at the institution of local governor Mikhail Razvodayev, according to footage broadcast by the Rossiya television channel.

“Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin knows how to surprise. In the good sense of the word,” Mikhail Rasvozhayev wrote in Telegram. According to him, the children’s art school was supposed to be opened on Saturday with the participation of the Russian leader via video conference. “But Vladimir Vladimirovich came in person. Himself. Driving. Because today On such a historic day, he is always with Sevastopol and its citizens,” said Mikhail Rasvozhayev.

Pro-Kremlin demonstrations in Moscow

In Moscow, pro-Kremlin activists protested Saturday outside the embassies of 20 countries considered “unfriendly” by Russia to mark the ninth anniversary of Crimea’s annexation, a youth movement said. These countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and France, “support Ukraine (…) and supply the Ukrainian regime with seriously dangerous weapons,” explained the movement “Molodaya gvardia” (“The Young Guard”) in a magazine. liberation “Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky and (US President Joe) Biden plan to retake Crimea from the Russians with the help of these deadly weapons,” the movement’s leader, Anton Demidov, told AFP during a demonstration in front of the US embassy. According to the movement, pro-Kremlin activists numbered a total of 5,000.

Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea on March 18, 2014, following a referendum not recognized by Kyiv and the international community. The link has earned Russia a barrage of international sanctions, which have been severely tightened since the beginning. of the Russian attack February 2022 in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the Ukrainian peninsula’s annexation by Russia in 2014, Russian public television reported.

On a surprise visit to Sevastopol, the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, Mr. Putin visited the art school at the institution of local governor Mikhail Razvodayev, according to images broadcast by the Rossiya TV channel -1. .

Office/sg

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