Putin visits the Crimea

The BBC has an article by Daniel Sandford about the latest on Russia:

President Vladimir Putin arrived in the Crimea, his first visit to the peninsula since Russia annexed it from the Ukraine in March of 2014. He addressed sailors in Sevastopol harbor as part of celebrations marking the 1945 Soviet victory over the Nazis. The Kiev government protested at the visit, calling it a "gross violation of the Ukraine's sovereignty". Kiev also reported that more than twenty people had died in a security operation against separatists in Mariupol.
Kiev recently launched an operation to retake official buildings occupied by pro-Russian rebels in Mariupol and several other cities in Ukraine's east and south.
Victory Day is supposed to be about remembering the sacrifices of World War Two, but in Sevastopol it became a party. People brought picnics and reserved tables in the restaurants with the best views. Children cheered the soldiers, who marched past wearing their new orange and white ribbon medals, won for "the return of the Crimea". The parade was small but the crowds were huge, and then, after lunch, the Kremlin security men arrived. Slowly the main square was cleared and anticipation grew. Then, off a boat, stepped President Putin, landing in a city that he says never stopped being Russian. The people of Sevastopol brought their white, blue and red flags and hailed him like a conquering hero. They were treated to a rare moment when he shook hands. It was an occasion that more than ever brought home the Russian annexation of the Crimea. Putin was able to walk unhindered and unchallenged through the main square of a city which the rest of the world believes is still part of the Ukraine.
In Sevastopol, Putin thanked the armed forces for their role in World War Two, and hailed the incorporation of the peninsula into the Russian Federation. He watched a fly-by of Russian aircraft and addressed seamen on naval vessels, with crowds gathered on cliffs overlooking the harbor. He said: "I am sure that 2014 will go into the annals of our whole country as the year when the nations living here firmly decided to be together with Russia, affirming fidelity to the historical truth and the memory of our ancestors."
The BBC's Daniel Sandford, in Sevastopol, said Putin was treated as a conquering hero as he walked through the main square and shook hands with Crimeans.
Putin earlier addressed thousands during a huge, hour-long military parade in Moscow's Red Square. He vowed to defend the "motherland" but did not mention the Ukraine in his speech. He told the crowd that 9 May, known as Victory Day in Russia, was a "day of grief and eternal memory" and stressed how the "iron will of the Soviet people" had saved Europe from slavery. "It is a holiday when an overwhelming force of patriotism triumphs, when all of us feel particularly acutely what it means to be loyal to the motherland and how important it is to defend its interests," he said.
Russian state television reported the Red Square parade was the largest such event in twenty years. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had earlier said it would be a pity if Putin used the anniversary to visit the Crimea. The Ukraine's interim authorities said the Soviet victory over the Nazis would be marked with a low-key wreath-laying ceremony. Kiev authorities feared that pro-Russian activists would try to stoke violence if there were any higher profile celebrations.
Nazi Germany invaded the USSR, which then included the Ukraine, in June of 1941 and advanced almost as far as Moscow, before being driven back to Berlin in some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Crimea was put under Ukrainian administration in 1954.
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia maintained a large military presence on the peninsula, and more than half of the region's population identified as ethnic Russian.
In the chaos that followed the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February of 2014, Russian forces took over most of the peninsula.
The Crimea then held a referendum and voted to join Russia, though the vote was widely criticized as offering no real choice. Pro-Russian separatists in south and eastern Ukrainian cities have said they will soon hold secession referendums.
Activists remain in control of many official buildings across the south and east despite a military operation by Kiev to remove them. Dozens of people have been killed in the unrest.

Rico says this is now the second Crimean War...