Putin makes unexpected trip to Crimea on annexation anniversary

Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unannounced visit to Crimea on Saturday to commemorate the ninth anniversary of its annexation from Ukraine.

Putin was welcomed by Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, the biggest city in Crimea, and was given a tour of a new children’s center and art school. Officials in Crimea were also reportedly surprised by the visit, according to Reuters.

The International Criminal Court and Putin’s Arrest Warrant

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, which was followed by a full-scale invasion of Ukraine eight years later. Ukraine has been fighting to regain control of the peninsula ever since but Russia has refused to relinquish control.

“Security issues obviously take top priority for Crimea and Sevastopol now,” Putin stated on Friday. “We will do everything needed to fend off any threats.”

The visit came a day after the International Criminal Court in the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin on Friday. On Thursday, the United Nations determined that Putin’s forceful deportation of children from Ukraine was a war crime.

“[Putin is] allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the warrant stated.

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Putin has yet to comment on the arrest warrant, but a Kremlin spokesperson has dismissed the move as “null and void,” and characterized the questions raised by the ICC as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, whom they accused of sharing responsibility for the deportations.