Russian President Vladimir Putin has travelled to Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine.
Mr Putin visited an art school and a children’s centre on Saturday, the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader, accusing him of war crimes. The court specifically accused him on Friday of bearing personal responsibility for the abduction of children from Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, which started almost 13 months ago.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded that Russia withdraw from the peninsula as well as the areas it has occupied since last year.
