On May 15, President Vladimir Putin attended the inauguration of a strategic 19-kilometer bridge along the Kerch Strait, linking Crimea to the Russian mainland. This key infrastructure project is a major step forward in bolstering the Crimean Peninsula’s economy, and encouraging trade and access to other parts of the Russian Federation. [...]

This week, in an article published on the UK government's official website addressed to European media, Johnson wrote about the upcoming fourth anniversary of what he referred to as "the events which led to the illegal annexation of Crimea." Responding to British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's recent article about Moscow's "seizure" of Crimea from Ukraine, the Russian Embassy in London h [...]

CRIMEAN BRIDGE - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he would like people to start using the Crimean Bridge linking the peninsula with the Krasnodar Territory, as early as this summer. "Of course, I would like people to start using the bridge this summer," Putin said at a meeting with construction workers during his trip to several regions in the south of Russia, including Crimea. [...]

A regional lawmaker from Germany has called Western sanctions against Russia “counterproductive,” and said accepting the choice that the Crimean people made in 2014 could bring peace to Ukraine. “I think that the sanctions introduced after Crimea held its referendum and was reunited with Russia are counterproductive. [...]

Europeans are becoming increasingly discontent over the issue of anti-Russian sanctions and distorted Crimea narrative, Vadim Kolesnichenko, the chairman of the presidium of the Internal Council of Russian Compatriots, has told Sputnik, commenting on the ongoing visit of German delegation to the peninsula. [...]

SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) - German lawmakers, who arrived in Crimea with a visit on Saturday, want to send a signal of greater cooperation possibilities with Russia, a member of the delegation said. "We want to send a special signal by this visit. Because we consider joint fruitful coexistence with Russia [...]

While work on both the road and railway sections of the Crimea bridge are ahead of schedule, and construction workers have completed the installation of all supporting structures for the highway section. [...]

Czech political analyst and activist Jan Miklas, recently back from a trip to Crimea, gives his take on the planned 'Crimean march' planned by Ukrainian nationalists, and on Washington's efforts to use Kiev as a pawn in its geopolitical confrontation with Russia. [...]

A Norwegian delegation comprising 11 Norwegian politicians and businessmen has underlined the necessity of signing an agreement on cooperation with Crimea after a week-long visit to the peninsula. A Norwegian delegation has expressed its willingness to cooperate with Crimea and establish friendly relations with the Russian region after paying an official visit to the peninsula, member of the Crim [...]

Senior Crimean officials have said that despite the attempts of Ukrainian authorities to isolate the peninsular and damage its tourist-oriented economy, the flow of visitors has remained constant with many of them coming from Ukraine. “An attempt to impose a ‘tourist blockade’ of Crimea has drowned in the thousands-strong torrent of Ukrainian citizens who, despite of all propaganda and lengt [...]

Crimea’s reunification with Russia is an “organic” process, Serbian movie director, Emir Kusturica, told journalists in Yalta, saying, that those living on the Peninsula do not need approval from abroad to build their lives as part of Russia. [...]

The Ukrainian Embassy in the UK has issued a sharp criticism of the Daily Mail, which ran a story effectively recognizing the city of Sevastopol and the Crimean Peninsula as Russian territory. On Monday, the Daily Mail ran a small piece about a WWII-era German parachute mine that was discovered in the port city of Sevastopol, and taken to the open sea for safe disposal. [...]

A brief trip to Crimea in June 2017 made me understand: Crimea wants to be a part of the "bigger world," but only together with Russia. The theme of economic sanctions against Russia and especially against its region of Crimea is becoming a real bonanza for lawyers. [...]

Karadag Nature Reserve, one of the most beautiful and mysterious places in the south-eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula, covers 28.7 square kilometers of land and aquatic areas. It was established in 1979 to preserve the region's unique topography of landforms and cliffs, as well as to protect and study rare species of diverse flora and fauna. [...]

On Thursday, Crimea marked the anniversary of the 2014 referendum which saw the peninsula break off from Ukraine and rejoin Russia. In an exclusive interview for Sputnik, Natalya Poklonskaya, the lawmaker who bravely served as Crimea's prosecutor during the Crimean Spring, offered Kiev and Western officials some advice about Crimea's status. [...]

The Russian military has launched a large-scale exercise at the Opuk training range, in Crimea. The drills involved the Russian Airborne Forces, the Black Sea Fleet and the Aerospace Forces. Airborne Forces commander Col. Gen. Andrei Serdyukov told reporters that the drills involved over 2,500 airborne personnel and some 600 units of military hardware. [...]

The Russian peninsula of Crimea is a true jewel of the Black Sea, and has plenty of magnificent sights to offer even the most discerning of travelers. Palaces, mountains and ancient ruins – which sight appeals to you the most? [...]

The Crimeans "really wanted to return to Russia," head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov told Sputnik, reflecting on events which led the Black Sea peninsula to hold a referendum on its status within Ukraine. Crimea's parliament and the local government of Sevastopol held the plebiscite following the foreign-sponsored coup which ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in Februar [...]

A delegation of mostly European and Ukrainian politicians has arrived in Crimea for a three-day visit, Ruslan Balbek, a Russian lawmaker representing Crimea, told Sputnik on Sunday. The delegation consists of about 20 people and includes members of the European Parliament, politicians from EU member states, CIS countries and Latin America. [...]

Three years after Crimea's accession to the Russian Federation, which was marked with festivities in Russia on Saturday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister tweeted that freedom was "taken away" from the peninsular and vowed to return it. Of course, Russian politicians didn't take this lying down. [...]

Vladimir Putin would take the same steps concerning Crimea now, according to the Kremlin spokesman. Russian President Vladimir Putin is keeping the situation around Crimea under personal control and would not change his decisions even if there was such an opportunity, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday. [...]

US President Trump has yet to articulate his foreign strategy, Russian political analyst Alexei Martynov said, commenting on the White House's "mixed signals" on Crimea. Apparently therefore new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's statement on the peninsula's status was rather ambiguous. [...]