Putin visits occupied city of Mariupol in Ukraine

2023-03-22

Sputnik, Kremlin Press Service Pool Photo via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the occupied port city of Mariupol, his first trip to Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed in September, in a show of defiance after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.

Putin arrived in Mariupol late Saturday after visiting Crimea, southwest of Mariupol, to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula's annexation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday. He was shown chatting with Mariupol residents and visiting an art school and a children's center in Sevastopol, Crimea.

Mariupol became a worldwide symbol of resistance 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. Much of the city was pounded to rubble by Russian shelling.

Former National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster on "Face the Nation" called Putin's visit a "moment of clarity," noting the warrant by the ICC.

"Look at just the brazen cynicism associated with him going to Sevastopol, which he illegally annexed in 2014, and then to Mariupol, going there at night," McMaster said. "You know, visiting sites - the few sites - you know, that hadn't been rumbled, you know, by the Russian military as they inflicted murder on innocent people in Mariupol."

Putin has not commented on the arrest warrant, which deepened his international isolation despite the unlikelihood of him facing trial anytime soon. The Kremlin, which does not recognize the authority of the ICC, has rejected its move as "legally null and void."

Source:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vladimir-putin-mariupol-ukraine-visit-icc/