Russia President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea on Saturday after the United States imposed new sanctions on Moscow earlier this week.
俄罗斯总统普京周六到访克里米亚地区,本周早些时候美国对俄罗斯实行新的制裁措施。
Accompanied by the head of the Crimean Republic Sergei Aksyonov and other senior officials, Putin inspected the
reconstruction1 of the Artek International Children's Center on the peninsula, according to a Kremlin statement.
During his trip, Putin asked Aksyonov to speed up the reconstruction of the Great Mithridates Staircase, a
landmark2 cultural
relic3 in Crimea.
Putin's visit came after the U.S.
Treasury4 Department on Tuesday blacklisted 38 individuals and
entities5 and two Russian government officials for their
alleged6 roles in the Ukrainian crisis.
Crimea separated from Ukraine and rejoined Russia in March 2014 following a local referendum, with almost 97 percent of the residents voting for the reunification.
However, Western countries insisted that the peninsula was illegally
annexed7 and they have imposed several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia since 2014.