Russian Prime Minister Medvedev visits Crimea

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Crimea, making him the first senior Russian official to visit the region after its rejoining Russia.

Medvedev arrived in the main city of Simferopol on Monday together with a delegation of Russian ministers and deputy prime ministers.

The Russian government said in a statement that the prime minister would discuss “current questions of social economic development of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.”

In addition, Medvedev is reportedly set to visit Crimea’s southwestern city of Sevastopol, where Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet is based.

The visit comes less than two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 21 signed into law documents that officially made Crimea part of Russian territory.

Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which nearly 97 percent of the voters in Crimea said yes to reunion with Russia.

The move sparked angry reactions from the United States and the European Union, both imposing sanctions against a number of Russian officials and authorities in Crimea.

The Western military alliance of NATO has accused Russia of violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Moscow has absolutely no intention of crossing into Ukraine.