Russia’s attempt to rebrand the annexed Crimean peninsula as a summer tourism hotspot has prompted outrage in Ukraine and been widely mocked by Russian bloggers.
Soon after pro-European protesters toppled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s pro-Russian government, the peninsula was annexed from Ukraine in March 2014 by heavily armed separatists that most observers believe were backed by the Kremlin. Subsequently the peninsula’s usually busy tourist season was interrupted, and Russia’s tourism body reported that Crimea lost at least two million annual visitors, falling from six million in 2013 to four million in 2014.
In a bid to avoid repeating last year’s tourism slump, …read more
Source: Newsweek
