Russian President Putin Makes Surprise Visit To Crimea After ICC Issued Arrest Warrant

0
Russian President Putin Makes Surprise Visit To Crimea After ICC Issued Arrest Warrant

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea on Saturday on an unannounced visit to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.

Putin was greeted by the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and taken to see a new children’s centre and art school on what the official said was a surprise visit.

Putin is yet to comment publicly on the move. His spokesman has called it “null and void”, and said that Russia finds the very questions raised by the ICC to be “outrageous and unacceptable”.

Russia seized Crimea in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine says it will fight to expel Russia from Crimea and all other territories that Russia has occupied in the year-long war.

Saturday’s trip also came the day after ICC issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest, charging him with being personally responsible for the abduction of children from Ukraine in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The International Monetary Fund said Friday its executive board has approved changes to its financing policy aimed at countries facing “exceptionally high uncertainty.”

The measure is widely viewed as a way to open a new loan program for Ukraine as it enters the second year of fighting Russia.

The IMF said in a statement, “The changes apply in situations of exceptionally high uncertainty, involving exogenous shocks that are beyond the control of country authorities and the reach of their economic policies, and which generate larger-than-usual tail risks.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend