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The unexpected arrival of the president to the city of Sebastopol occurs within the framework of the negotiations of the grain agreement with Ukraine, where a consensus of still indefinite duration was reached by the parties. The visit comes a day after an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court alleging the president’s alleged involvement in war crimes.
The Russian president visited a newly built educational center for minors in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea, as well as inspecting the facilities of a museum. Both complexes are part of a project to develop a park inspired by the territory’s Greek colonial past, according to local media reports.
Vladimir Putin was received by the city’s governor, Mikhail Razvojayev, who expressed his surprise at the visit of the Russian head of state. “Our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin knows how to surprise, in the good sense of this word,” the governor wrote on his Telegram channel.
Crimea receives President Putin for the first time since the start of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. The peninsula plays a fundamental role both in explaining the roots of the conflict, and in possible negotiations to end the tensions.
Anniversary of a controversial annexation
The date of this visit marks the ninth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea by the Government of Vladimir Putin. In 2014, Russia began an offensive to take over the territory that was under Ukrainian jurisdiction, an operation that caused discomfort in a large part of the international community and that some voices consider as the prologue to the current conflict between the two nations.
The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, has repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from the peninsula, in addition to the return of the territory to Ukrainian jurisdiction. However, Putin’s government appears to have no plans to comply with Zelensky’s demands.
“Obviously, security issues are now a priority for Crimea and Sevastopol (…) We will do everything necessary to repel any threat,” Vladimir Putin said when questioned about the situation on the peninsula on March 17.
The annexation of Crimea in 2014 meant that Putin was subjected to multiple sanctions by international organizations of various kinds. However, the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine has caused greater consternation in institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC arrest warrant is “null and void” according to Russia.
On March 17, ICC judges led by prosecutor Karim Khan issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president for his role in alleged war crimes inside Ukraine.
The president is accused of being the main person responsible for the kidnapping of minors in Ukrainian territory to be transferred to Russia. These activities would fall into the category of “illegal deportation of population and illegal transfer of population”, considered as war crimes by the Rome Statutes, the founding document of the ICC.
So far, Vladimir Putin has not publicly reacted to the court’s decision, however, the spokesman for the presidency, Dmitry Peskov, described the order issued by the international organization as “null and void.” “Scandalous and unacceptable” were also words used by Peskov to describe the accusations against the president.
Despite the dispute with the ICC, the government headed by Vladimir Putin remains the focus of high-level international negotiations. The most recent being the one with Ukraine on the export of grains through the Black Sea.
Resolution of the grain agreement: 60 days, 120 days or indefinite time?
The renewal of the agreement that expired this Saturday has been jointly announced by the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the United Nations, which were the mediating actors in the tense negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
“This agreement is of vital importance for the world’s food supply,” said President Erdogan as he concluded the negotiations. The agreement will allow the transit of tens of millions of tons of agricultural products from Ukraine through the Black Sea. The main destinations for Ukrainian beans are China, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
However, there is a dispute between the parties about the renewal time of the agreement. From kyiv, they announced that the agreement would be extended for 120 days, according to a statement from the Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov. But Moscow demonstrates another position.
“We say it again. The Russian Federation agreed to an extension of only 60 days,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. The declaration is the result of a firm position by the Kremlin, which from the beginning of the talks emphasized the duration of the possible extension of the pact.
The United Nations also welcomed the extension, although it made no mention of the duration of this renewal. Turkey also did not specify a specific time frame for the agreement.
With Reuters, AP and AFP
