The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has stated that Russia has turned Crimea into a zone of unfreedom and oppression over the past nine years.
"16 March marked the ninth anniversary of Russia's fake 'referendum on the status of Crimea' and 18 March the day of the attempted illegal annexation, when the so-called 'agreements on the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation' were signed," the Foreign Ministry said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by international justice for committing war crimes, arrived in occupied Crimea today.
"For nine years in a row, the Crimean peninsula has been suffering from the criminal regime of the Kremlin, which has turned it into a military outpost, a zone of unfreedom and oppression, aggression and terror against everything and everyone who has found the courage to resist and defend their democratic rights and values. This Kremlin-orchestrated 'performance' at gunpoint contradicted the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, grossly violated international law and was not recognized by the international community," the Foreign Ministry said.