The president has called the event one of the defining milestones in the nations history

Crimea's reunification with Russia has become a symbol of unity and cohesion, President Vladimir Putin said as he marked the 12th anniversary of the event.

The choice made by the Crimean people in 2014 to be with their homeland was "decisive and historic," the president said at a government meeting on Wednesday.

It is "one of the most important... even defining milestones" in Russia's 1,000-year history, he added.

The Crimean Peninsula overwhelmingly voted in favor of joining Russia in a referendum following the Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014. On March 18 that year, Putin signed the law on Crimea's ascension to Russia. The move was not recognized by Western countries or Ukraine, which has vowed to take the peninsula back.

Similar choices were also made by the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics and the regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson, Putin said, adding that it is these choices that the Russian military is currently defending on the battlefield.

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The Donetsk and Lugansk republics seceded from Ukraine following the Maidan coup in 2014. In autumn 2022, the two regions, along with Kherson and Zaporozhye, officially joined Russia as a result of referendums.

Russia has invested 1.3 trillion rubles ($16 billion) in the Crimean Peninsula over 12 years, according to Putin. The money was spent to address social and economic issues such as transportation infrastructure, energy, and new education and healthcare facilities, Putin said.

(RT.com)