MOSCOW, March 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) \u2013 Russia on Monday will mark the fifth anniversary of Moscow\u2019s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, condemned by the West but celebrated by most Russians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Vladimir Putin will take part in celebrations in the Black Sea
peninsula, where he is also due to launch a new power station, the Kremlin
said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow\u2019s 2014 takeover of Crimea was denounced by Kiev and the West as an annexation and led to sanctions against Russia, but it resulted in a major
boost of Putin\u2019s popularity at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Russia, March 18 has been officially proclaimed as the \u201cDay of Crimea\u2019s
Reunification with Russia\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Moscow, city authorities have thrown a street festival called \u201cCrimean
Spring\u201d that hosts jazz concerts, cooking workshops and a photography
exhibition a stone\u2019s throw from the Kremlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up to 10,000 people are expected to take part in a flash mob in the Moscow
region Monday, dancing to the Soviet-era song \u201cWaltz of Sevastopol\u201d \u2014 the
Crimean city home to Russia\u2019s Black Sea fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hundreds are expected to participate in another flash mob recreating the
Russian flag in the Crimean seaside resort Yalta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor us, the question of Crimea is decided forever,\u201d Russian foreign
ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said several days before the
anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is because its reunification with Russia was the result of the free
will of the peninsula\u2019s people in a referendum,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The March 2014 referendum, held by Crimean authorities, was not recognised internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putin signed a treaty with representatives from Crimea to make it part of
Russia two days after the unrecognised vote, on March 18, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine and much of the international community condemned the move as a violation of international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, the United States, Canada and the European Union slapped new
sanctions on more than a dozen Russian officials and businesses in response to Moscow\u2019s \u201ccontinued aggression in Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll these five years there has been an atmosphere of both open and hidden
terror against the people of Crimea and international law,\u201d Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW, March 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) \u2013 Russia on Monday will mark the fifth anniversary of Moscow\u2019s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, condemned by the West but celebrated by most Russians. President Vladimir Putin will take part in celebrations in the Black Seapeninsula, where he is also due to launch a new power station, the Kremlinsaid. Moscow\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14787"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}