today in the Crimea for the second anniversary of the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula, while the move of Moscow continues to burden relations between the West and Russia.
Putin will travel to Tuzla island, off the coast of the peninsula, to inspect the construction of a bridge cost of 2.9 billion. euro over the strait of Kerch to connect the Crimea with southern Russia by land route.
During the visit, the president will also participate in meetings dedicated to the economic development of the peninsula, which suffers from galloping inflation, and it still depends a lot from the Ukraine, mainly for the supply of water and electricity.
Concerts and public celebrations will also be held to commemorate the second anniversary of the signing by Vladimir Putin of the union of Crimea with Russia.
The annexation, which is considered “illegal” by Kiev and the West, it is justified according to the Kremlin from the result of a controversial referendum in which 97% of the inhabitants of Crimea voted for unification with Russia, but under the eyes of the Russian armed forces who had taken control of the peninsula.
The EU and the US had then decided sanctions against Moscow, which Brussels is renewed at the beginning of March until the 15th of September.
Washington invited from the side of the once again the day before yesterday, Wednesday the Moscow to “put an end to the occupation (of the peninsula) and to return the Crimea to Ukraine”.
According to a poll by the independent centre Levada published in February, nearly 83% of Russians support the annexation by Moscow of Crimea, which was offered to Ukraine in 1954 by soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
The authorities of Crimea have created “a climate of fear and repression in the Crimea,” he said from the side of the international NGO Observatory of Human Rights (HRW).
The defenders of Human rights are primarily concerned about the treatment accorded by the authorities in the community of the Crimean Tatars, who opposed the Russian annexation, as well as for the pressure of the journalists and militant Ukrainians that are out there.
Source
What makes Putin in the Crimea?
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