Putin Marks Crimea Annexation Amid Election Victory Celebrations

The Kremlin loves loud and lavish parties to celebrate itself. This time, a grand concert is planned for 18 March, the day after the presidential elections, which Putin is expected to win. Vladimir Putin himself is expected to speak at the concert.

It has become a sad, almost annual tradition that Russians commemorate the "liberation" of Crimea (as they refer to its annexation). Putin almost always participates in the event. In 2018, it occurred on the day of the presidential elections.

For a change, in 2023, instead of a concert for the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin personally visited the peninsula. It was his first visit since November 2021.

During the first concert in 2014, Putin said the inhabitants have long remembered the peninsula. The Russian leader then spoke about the "return of Crimea and Sevastopol to their native harbour".

The last time Vladimir Putin participated in the celebration was 30 September 2022. At that time, it was announced that Russia had annexed four Ukrainian regions: Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Luhansk. In 2023, Putin did not attend the concert.

However, he did appear on 22 February 2023 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow during a rally concert titled "Glory to the Defenders of the Fatherland". As reported by Belsat, a rap about Azovstal and the so-called Novorossiya was read during the event. There was also a song about "Dill", pejoratively referring to Ukrainians. Children from Mariupol, who "thanked for saving them from the Ukrainian regime and Nazis", also appeared.

Victory Day, possibly the most important of Russian holidays, is also celebrated at Red Square. Every year, Vladimir Putin and his entourage participate. Last year, the entire square was guarded by snipers, and residents were forbidden from leaving their homes or opening windows and balconies.