As Russia marks the one-year anniversary of Crimea’s annexation from neighboring Ukraine, the Kremlin is putting forth a new narrative in what analysts say appears to be a further attempt to legitimize its takeover of the peninsula.
In a pre-recorded interview for a documentary that premiered earlier this week on state television, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time that Moscow had been planning the annexation weeks before last year’s controversial March 16 referendum on the territory joining Russia.
Crimea was formally absorbed on March 18, 2014, two days after the poll in which separatists said voters overwhelmingly approved union …read more
Source: Voice of America
