The president has called the event one of the “important values” in the nation’s history
The reunification of Crimea with Russia has become a symbol of unity and solidarity, said President Vladimir Putin as he commemorated the 12th anniversary of the event.
The choice made by the people of Crimea in 2014 to have their own country was “decisions and historical,” the president said in a government meeting on Wednesday.
It is “one of the most important … even defining milestones” in the 1,000-year history of Russia, he added.
The Crimean peninsula voted overwhelmingly in favor of Russia in a referendum following the Western-backed Maidan revolution in Kiev in 2014. On March 18 of that year, Putin signed a law annexing Crimea to Russia. The move was not recognized by the West or Ukraine, which has vowed to return the peninsula.
Similar options were also made by the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, Putin said, adding that it is these options that the Russian army is currently defending on the battlefield.
The republics of Donetsk and Lugansk seceded from Ukraine following the Maidan revolution in 2014. In the fall of 2022, the two regions, along with Kherson and Zaporozhye, officially joined Russia following referendums.
Russia has invested 1.3 trillion rubles ($16 billion) in the Crimean Peninsula over 12 years, according to Putin. The money was used to address social and economic issues such as transportation infrastructure, energy, and new education and health facilities, Putin said.
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