MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin called Tuesday for international recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, an end to Ukraine’s NATO membership bid and a halt to weapons shipments there. Putin claimed that Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula should be internationally recognized as a legitimate reflection of the local population’s choice. The annexation has been widely condemned by Western powers as a breach of international law. To end the current crisis, he also called for the renunciation of Ukraine’s NATO bid and said that the West should stop sending weapons there.
Putin calls for recognition of Crimea as Russia
