In addition to his re-election, Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated this Monday, March 18, ten years since Moscow's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. From the capital's Red Square, and in the middle of a rally-concert, the president took a mass bath and remembered the annexation as an important chapter in the history of his country.
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Ten years since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, the Russian action that lit the fuse of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin leader highlights reasons for joy twice. This March 18, just a decade after Russian President Vladimir Putin made this annexation official, the president ratifies his re-election after the weekend elections.
Crimea is not only an important territory from a strategic point of view
In the last few hours, Putin appeared briefly outdoors in Red Square in Moscow, where in front of a crowd waving Russian flags he assured that the 2014 accession marked a milestone in the history of his country.
“Crimea is not only an important territory from a strategic point of view, it is not only our history, our tradition (…) Crimea is mainly its people: the Crimeans and inhabitants of Sevastopol. They are our pride!”, he said .
At a Red Square rally to celebrate Crimea's annexation, Putin invited the other Kremlin-controlled candidates from his re-election onstage. They are talked about being “proud of the country and the president,” then sang the national anthem. Democracy in action, Russian style pic.twitter.com/W8U4eUwn9n
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 18, 2024
The annexation of Crimea, located in southern Ukraine, was seen by the pro-Russians as the “recovery” of a territory that belonged to them and the shared language was one of its justifications, although since 1954 it had become a Ukrainian region after a broad claim from that party.
Its link to Russia through a referendum considered illegal by kyiv generated strong opposition from most of the international community, which soon issued sanctions against Moscow, but which did not make it desist from its occupation objectives.
Read alsoWhat is happening between Russia and Ukraine?: the keys to the conflict involving the West
The conflict, also called the Donbass war, grew on the ground and added to Russian justifications for Kiev's intentions for years to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – which it considers a threat to Moscow's security. among other justifications such as “denazifying” Ukraine – Putin launched war against his neighboring country more than two years ago.
An ongoing conflict during which it has annexed four other Ukrainian regions: Donetsk and Lugansk, in the east of Ukraine, and Kherson and Zaporozhye, in the south, after holding referendums not authorized by Kiev, as it did in Crimea ten years ago.
“Crimea is an inalienable part of the Russian Federation”
During his rally in Red Square on Monday, Putin stated that the “return” of the other four regions of Ukraine to Russia had turned out to be “much more serious and tragic” than that of Crimea, but that it had been achieved.
“We achieved it and that is also a great milestone in the history of our State. Now we move forward and go together, shoulder to shoulder,” Putin proclaimed this Monday about those annexations.
Two years after Putin launched what he calls a “special military operation” against his neighbor, Russia has not fully captured those four regions. However, he justifies the results of those disputed referendums, which kyiv and the West say were carried out under coercion of its inhabitants.
But the Kremlin insists on its appropriation. In fact, the recent Russian presidential elections also took place in those Ukrainian territories and despite the fact that the war continues.
“The important thing is that Crimea is an inalienable part of the Russian Federation,” added the spokesman for the Russian Presidency on March 18,” Dmitri Peskov remarked.
Read alsoRussia and Ukraine face each other in an armed conflict that shakes Europe
The annexation of the Black Sea peninsula was a precursor to Moscow's seizure of more Ukrainian regions with the current war, but Putin is not stopping there and expects greater territorial annexations in the midst of what has become a war of wear and tear, as Kiev's forces fight to retain their sovereignty.
With AP and EFE
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