Putin in Crimea salutes its 'return'

Ukraine fighting kills at least 7 on Russia’s Victory Day

People with the Donetsk republic flag stand atop a Ukrainian government forces armored personal carrier seized by pro-Russia insurgents during fighting in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Friday, May 9, 2014. In Ukraine's east, where pro-Russia insurgents have seized government buildings and fought with Ukrainian forces, fatal fighting broke out in the city of Mariupol.  Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said about 60 gunmen attacked the police station and were repelled in an operation that killed one policeman and about 20 people that he called “terrorists.”   (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

People with the Donetsk republic flag stand atop a Ukrainian government forces armored personal carrier seized by pro-Russia insurgents during fighting in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Friday, May 9, 2014. In Ukraine's east, where pro-Russia insurgents have seized government buildings and fought with Ukrainian forces, fatal fighting broke out in the city of Mariupol. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said about 60 gunmen attacked the police station and were repelled in an operation that killed one policeman and about 20 people that he called “terrorists.” (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Saturday, May 10, 2014

SEVASTOPOL, Crimea -- Presiding over a triumphant spectacle of warships and fighter jets, President Vladimir Putin hailed the return of Crimea to Russia as the restoration of "historic justice" before a jubilant, welcoming crowd Friday on the holiday that Russians hold dearest.

In Ukraine's east, where pro-Russia insurgents have seized government buildings, fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia protesters Friday in Mariupol killed at least seven people, turned police headquarters into a smoldering ruin and left the city center blocked off after residents built barricades of tires.

Russia's annexation of Crimea in March, a few weeks after Ukraine's president was ousted and fled to Russia, was a key event in Ukraine's months-long crisis.

Putin's visit to the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based, was strongly criticized by both NATO and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, which said it trampled on Ukraine's sovereignty and international law.

Ukraine is struggling with its most serious crisis in decades as insurgents in the east are grabbing buildings and territory, fighting the central government and preparing to hold a referendum Sunday on secession.

Putin's two Victory Day celebrations, which included a show of military muscle in the annual Red Square parade in Moscow and an extravaganza in Sevastopol, rubbed salt in the wounds of the interim government in Kiev without ever mentioning its name.

Victory Day is Russia's most important secular holiday and a key element of the country's national identity, honoring the armed forces and the millions who died in World War II.

In his speech, Putin hailed the incorporation of Crimea's 2 million people into Russia as "return to the Motherland" and a tribute to the "historical justice and the memory of our ancestors."

He expanded on the theme in a later address at a commemorative concert, saying Russia respected other countries' interests and "we ask that all of them show regard for our legal interests, including the restoration of historical justice and the right to self-determination."

Crimea had been transferred to Ukraine in 1954 during Soviet times and remained under Ukrainian control until the March annexation, which has not been acknowledged by the West or Kiev. The annexation followed a hastily arranged referendum.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, meanwhile, repeated his stance that Crimea was not part of Russia.

"We consider the Russian annexation of Crimea to be illegal, illegitimate, and we don't recognize it," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Tallinn, Estonia. "We still consider Crimea as Ukrainian territory, and from my knowledge, the Ukrainian authorities haven't invited Putin to visit Crimea, so from that point of view his visit to Crimea is inappropriate."

Earlier in Moscow, Putin watched as about 11,000 Russian troops proudly marched across the Red Square to the tunes of marches and patriotic songs. They were followed by columns of dozens of tanks and rocket launchers as some 70 combat aircraft, including giant nuclear-capable strategic bombers, roared overhead.

The parading troops on Red Square included one marine unit from the Black Sea Fleet that flew the Crimean flag on its armored personnel carriers.

The West and the Ukrainian government accuse Russia of fomenting the unrest in Ukraine's east, where insurgents have seized government buildings in a dozen of cities and towns. The insurgents are holding a referendum on independence Sunday in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions -- an area populated by 6.5 million. The vote is similar to a plebiscite that paved the way for Moscow's annexation of Crimea.

There were varying accounts of Friday's violence in Mariupol, a city of 500,000 that is a strategic port on the Azov Sea and is along the main road between the Russian border and the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said about 60 gunmen attacked the police station and were repulsed in an operation that killed one policeman and about 20 people that he called "terrorists."

The Donetsk regional government said seven people were killed and 39 others were wounded in the violence.

The conflicting death tolls could not be reconciled.

Avakov said the government was ready to negotiate with those in the east who want to sit down for talks but vowed to destroy those who take up arms. He promised not to let Ukraine "turn into a burning buffer zone, where death will become the norm."

Information for this article was contributed by Peter Leonard, Olimpiu Gheorghiu, Yuras Karmanau, Ed Brown, Mark Rachkevych, Dmytro Vlasov and Svetlana Kozlenko of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/10/2014