Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014, Russian public television reported.
During a surprise visit to Sevastopol, the main port of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, Putin visited an art school with local governor Mikhail Razugaev, according to images broadcast by Russia-1 TV channel.
“He knows how to surprise.”
“Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin knows how to surprise in the good sense of the word,” Razugaev wrote on Telegram.
And he confirmed by video link that on Saturday it is planned to open a children’s art school with the participation of the President of Russia.
He was driving his car.
“But Vladimir Vladimirovich came personally, he drove his car, because on such a historic day as today, he is always on the side of Sevastopol and its inhabitants,” Razugaev added.
It is noteworthy that the last visit of the President of Russia to Crimea was in 2020.
annexation of Crimea
Russia claims to have annexed Crimea to its lands based on a referendum in which residents supported joining it in March 2014.
But Kyiv, together with the Western countries, refused to recognize this referendum, saying that it was invalid.
