Russian Defense Minister arrives in the Crimea
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu arrived in the Crimea on Friday to present awards to Russian sailors and to inspect the Black Sea fleet, Interfax reported.
"In Sevastopol, the head of the military department [Shoygu] will present the Order of Nakhimov to the crew of the missile cruiser Moskva,” the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, told reporters.
Shoygu will also check the progress of the resettlement of a number of garrisons of the Black Sea fleet stationed in the Crimea, Konashenkov said.
The internationally recognized Ukrainian territory of Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in March of 2014 in the wake of the Ukrainian revolution. The Kremlin has faced international condemnation for its annexation of the Peninsula, leading many western countries to impose economic sanctions against Russia. In the United Nations, only Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Syria recognize Crimea as a legitimate federal subject of Russia.