{"id":99632,"date":"2015-03-16T07:57:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T07:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=99632"},"modified":"2015-03-16T07:57:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T07:57:26","slug":"crimea-has-left-ukraine-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/03\/crimea-has-left-ukraine-for-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Crimea has left Ukraine ‘for good’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Crimea’s prime minister has told the BBC the peninsula has returned to its historical Russian homeland and will never again be part of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Sergei Aksyonov said the annexation of the peninsula by Russia one year ago had been a “democratic act”.<\/p>\n
In a pre-recorded interview which aired on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had been ready to put nuclear weapons on standby at the time.<\/p>\n
Mr Putin has not been seen in public since 5 March.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin has denied rumours that he might be sick or even dead.<\/p>\n
Mr Putin is due to meet the President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, in St Petersburg on Monday.<\/p>\n
Mr Atambayev’s office has confirmed on its website (in Russian) that he arrived in the Russian city on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Crimea was formally absorbed into Russia on 18 March – amid international condemnation – after a disputed referendum boycotted by Crimeans loyal to Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Earlier, unidentified gunmen had taken over the peninsula and Mr Putin admitted in the interview that he had deployed troops to support “Crimea’s self-defence forces”.<\/p>\n
The action resulted in the US and EU imposing sanctions on Russian organisations and individuals, including Mr Aksyonov.<\/p>\n