WORLD NEWS | Putin visits Crimea on 1st anniversary of Crimea annexation from Ukraine

Moscow [Russia]March 19 (ANI): Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to occupied Crimea on the ninth anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of the peninsula, just a second after the ICC issued an arrest warrant, TASS news agency reported. sky.

Earlier, Putin was expected to attend the cultural and historical event virtually, but surprised everyone by arriving in person, according to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

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On Friday, part of the president’s schedule was also devoted to discussing the situation on the peninsula. According to the TASS news agency, Putin held a meeting devoted to the socio-economic development of Crimea and Sevastopol.

Putin traditionally attends the March 18 holiday. He has repeatedly attended concerts celebrating the day at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, held special meetings with the public and personally visited Crimea.

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Putin last visited the peninsula in July 2020. He inspected the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch and participated in the keel-laying ceremony of several naval vessels. In December 2022, he visited the Crimea Bridge, which was being repaired after the terrorist attack, TASS reported.

Earlier Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and another Russian official. The arrest warrant is believed to be one of the first charges against Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, CNN reported, in a bid to hold the Russian president and the Russian Federation accountable for atrocities that began with a full-scale invasion in February 2022. part of a global effort.

The arrest warrant cited Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, child rights commissioner in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, for forcibly deporting Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas to Russia.

The Kremlin has slammed the allegations, noting that it does not cooperate with the ICC.

“We consider it outrageous and unacceptable to raise this issue. Russia, like many countries, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and therefore, any such decision is invalid against the Russian Federation from its point of view . The legal point of view,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tweeted.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected the arrest warrant on Friday, saying, “Russia is not a member of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and does not have any obligations. Russia does not cooperate with this institution and may [pretences] Arrests from the International Court of Justice are not legally valid for us. “

Meanwhile, former Russian president and deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev compared the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin to toilet paper.

“The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. No need to explain where this piece of paper should be used,” Medvedev tweeted, along with the toilet paper emoji. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)