The President of Russia Vladimir Putin hailed the “return” of Crimea to Russia at a live performance marking the tenth anniversary of the unlawful annexation of the territory by Ukraine.
He stated that Crimea was “returned to its residence port” and that it could transfer ahead with Russia “hand in hand”.
Mr Putin was addressing hundreds of individuals in Moscow's Pink Sq. a day after claiming an election victory.
The vote was condemned by Western governments as a farce.
The UK's overseas secretary, Lord Cameron, stated that the elections, wherein critical opposition candidates weren’t allowed to face, “underline the depth of repression beneath the regime of the President Putin”.
He additionally burdened that the Russian elections within the occupied Ukrainian territories was a “heinous violation of the UN constitution and Ukrainian sovereignty.”
Germany known as it a “pseudo-election,” whereas america stated it was “clearly neither free nor honest.” The president of Ukraine accused Putin of “simulating” one other election.
China, Saudi Arabia and India congratulated Mr Putin:
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In a message to the Russian president, Chinese language President Xi Jinping stated that beneath his management Russia “will certainly have the ability to obtain higher achievements in nationwide improvement and building.”
The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Moscow in 2014 – eight years earlier than Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and seize of its Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas.
On Monday, Mr Putin stated the “return” of those 4 Ukrainian areas to Russia had turned out to be “far more critical and tragic” than Crimea.
“However ultimately we did it. It’s a nice occasion within the historical past of our nation,” he stated, describing the occupied territories as a part of “New Russia.” The group responded with chants of “Russia, Russia.”
Mr Putin additionally introduced a brand new railway that may run from the Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don to Crimea through occupied Ukraine – which might function an alternative choice to the present bridge linking the peninsula to mainland Russia .
“That is how collectively, hand in hand, we transfer ahead. That is what – not in phrases, however in deeds – actually makes us stronger,” he stated.
The prevailing bridge, which opened in 2018, has been attacked and compelled to shut twice because the starting of the warfare in Ukraine.
Earlier in the course of the rally, he stated a rail line from Rostov to the occupied Ukrainian cities of Donetsk, Mariupol and Berdyansk had been restored, and would now be prolonged to the Crimean port metropolis of Sevastopol.
Mr Putin thanked the group for his or her assist in his current election success – which noticed him declare a fifth time period with 87% of the vote – and was joined on stage by the three opposition candidates which they allowed to face towards him.
Russians had three days to vote and other people in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine have even longer, in an try to persuade residents to take part.
The president, who has dominated Russia since 2000, is now set to remain in energy till a minimum of 2030 – the longest-serving Kremlin chief since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Russia's impartial watchdog, Golos, was barred from observing the vote, however reviews emerged of irregularities, in addition to strain on public sector workers to vote each at polling stations and on-line.
Voters had been unable to “kind and specific their free will, or decide the true final result of the vote,” he stated.
The president praised opposition campaigns for encouraging voters to end up in higher numbers, though he condemned those that spoiled their vote and stated motion could be taken towards them.
