Russia says trip shows it’s in Mariupol to stay

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has visited Mariupol in his first trip to Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September.

Russian state news agencies reported yesterday that he had been in the port city, which became a worldwide symbol of defiance after outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces held out in a steel mill there for nearly three months before Moscow finally took control of it in May.

On Saturday, Mr Putin travelled to Crimea, a short distance southwest of Mariupol, to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine.

The visits, during which he was shown chatting with residents in Mariupol and visiting an art school and a children’s centre in Crimea, were a show of defiance by the Russian leader two days after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.

Mr Putin has not commented on the arrest warrant, which deepened his international isolation despite the unlikelihood of him facing trial anytime soon.

The trip also came ahead of a planned visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, expected to provide a major diplomatic boost to Mr Putin in his confrontation with the West.

Mr Putin arrived in Mariupol by helicopter and then drove himself around the city’s “memorial sites”, concert hall and coastline, the Russian reports said, without specifying exactly when the visit took place. They said Mr Putin also met with residents in the city’s Nevskyi district.

The state Rossiya 24 channel showed footage of Mr Putin chatting with locals outside what looked like a newly-built residential complex, and being shown around one of the apartments.

Following his trip to Mariupol, he met with Russian military leaders and troops at a command post in Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city some 180km further east.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the trip had been unannounced, and Mr Putin, below, intended to “inspect the work of the (command) post in its ordinary mode of operation”.

Speaking to the state RIA agency on Sunday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnulin made clear that Russia is in Mariupol to stay.