The Russian president arrives in Crimea to mark the anniversary of the peninsula’s 2014 annexation from Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Crimea on an unannounced go to to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.
Putin was greeted on Saturday by the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and was taken to see a brand new youngsters’s heart and artwork faculty on what the official stated was a shock go to.
“Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is aware of how one can shock. In a great way,” Razvozhayev stated on the messaging app Telegram.
“However Vladimir Vladimirovich got here in particular person. Himself. To put in Behind the wheel. As a result of on such a historic day, the president is all the time with Sevastopol and the individuals of Sevastopol,” the Moscow-appointed official stated.
State media didn’t instantly broadcast any remarks from Putin, a day after the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) stated it had issued an arrest warrant in opposition to him and accused him of the battle crime of illegally deporting lots of of youngsters from Ukraine.
Putin has but to remark publicly on the warrant. The Kremlin spokesman has known as it “null and void” and stated Russia finds the very points raised by the ICC to be “outrageous and unacceptable”.
Russia seized Crimea in 2014, eight years earlier than launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine says it’ll combat to expel Russia from Crimea and all different territory that Russia has occupied within the year-long battle.
Putin has proven no intention of relinquishing the Kremlin’s features. As an alternative, he careworn on Friday the significance of holding Crimea.
“Clearly, safety points take high precedence for Crimea and Sevastopol now,” he stated, referring to Crimea’s largest metropolis. “We are going to do every little thing wanted to fend off any threats.”
The ICC’s arrest warrant was the primary issued in opposition to a frontrunner of one of many 5 everlasting members of the UN Safety Council. The court docket, which is predicated in The Hague, Netherlands, additionally issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for kids’s rights.
The transfer was instantly dismissed by Moscow and welcomed by Ukraine as a serious breakthrough. Its sensible implications, nevertheless, may very well be restricted as a result of the probabilities of Putin going through trial on the ICC are extremely unlikely. Moscow doesn’t acknowledge the court docket’s jurisdiction or extradite its nationals. Putin would face arrest, nevertheless, is he travels overseas to an ICC member nation.
