Putin visits annexed Crimea
President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea Saturday, August 4th, where he visited the evening-opening of the festival “Opera in Chersonese.” It will take place on the territory of the museum-reserve “Chersonese Tavrichensky” in Sevastopol on August 10-12, reported the press service of the Russian president.
Putin watched the ballet, and then, with Metropolitan Tikhon visited the Vladimirsky cathedral, where “restoration work continues.”
Together with Putin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets flew from Moscow. Putin discussed the progress of the museum and theater- educational complex project in Sevastopol with her and “Governor of Sevastopol” Dmitry Ovsyannikov.
Looking at photos of land plots where the complexes are planned on being built, Putin said: “It is a sad sight.”
“Sad” is an understatement. For several decades no funds have been dedicated to cultural advancement, and not just cultural,” responded Golodets to Putin.
In addition, Golodets reported to Putin that, compared to last year, the number of tourists in Crimea increased by 26 percent.
The Ukraine Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly stressed their disagreement with the validity of any Russian officials staying in Crimea and Sevastopol without their approval.
On July 29th, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited occupied Sevastopol. Local media reported that Medvedev’s participation in official events is only the formal reason for the visit. The real purpose of the visit is to discuss the failure of the tourist season, the sad state of infrastructure, as well as the “disappearance” of two billion rubles allocated for construction of treatment facilities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has protested that they do not agree with Medvedev’s stay in Crimea.
During a previous visit to Crimea in November 2017, Putin opened a monument to Tsar Alexander III in Yalta.