Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated the ninth anniversary of Crimea’s illegal annexation to Ukraine by visiting Tauric Chersonese, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Black Sea peninsula that his government is turning into a platform cultural and ideological shape for Russian expansion.
His March 18 visit came the day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him on charges of war crimes for the expulsion of Ukrainian children from illegally annexed territories of Ukraine.
“Historical Park”
Putin was invited to visit a new children’s art school at the site by Metropolitan Tikhon Shevkunov, a Russian monk known for creating ideologically charged cultural and historical projects in support of the regime. Shevkunov’s “Russia – My History” is a multimedia “historical park” that spanned from the Stalin-era Moscow VDNH Fairgrounds to locations across Russia and moved valuable local collections.
Tauric Chersonese was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2013. Rather than citing it as a Unesco site, Russia now calls it the “Tauric Chersonese Historical and Archaeological Park”. Unesco, Ukraine and local activists have warned that Russian activities at the site of the ancient city put it at risk. Tauric Chersonese is also closely associated with the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, which has conducted excavations there since the 19th century.
Shevkunov is overseeing a reconstruction of the complex by Defense Ministry builders, according to Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev, who spoke to the official Tass news agency on the day of Putin’s visit. Sevastopol is the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
According to the news agency, plans for the park include “a museum of Antiquity and Byzantium, an international archaeological center, an amphitheater, a reconstructed area of the ancient city, including museums and archaeological exhibits, shops of souvenirs, cafes, a Crimean museum, an archaeological landscape park, a tourist center, a museum of Christianity, a humanitarian center in Korsun, a parking lot for 1,380 cars and other facilities”.
The Kremlin’s website says it will also feature a museum of “Novorossiya,” a term from the time of Catherine the Great now applied by Russian authorities to territories illegally annexed from Ukraine.
“Sacred Importance for Russia”
Putin spoke of Crimea and Tauric Chersonese as being at the heart of the Russian state. In his 2014 State of the Nation address, he said: “All this allows us to say that Crimea, ancient Korsun or Chersonesus, and Sevastopol have invaluable civilizational and even sacred significance for Russia, as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem for followers. of Islam and Judaism.
After his visit to Crimea, Putin traveled to Mariupol, a city in eastern Ukraine nearly wiped out by Russian troops at the start of the 2022 invasion. Putin and Russian state media are now making the promoting the reconstruction of the city.
Saint Petersburg, which became Mariupol’s sister city last year, is supervising part of the work. Deputy Russian city governor Boris Piotrovsky, the son of Hermitage museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky, visited there to report on progress. Last December, a St. Petersburg high school student was arrested after he wrote an anti-war sign on intertwined hearts symbolizing the relationship between the cities that had been installed in Palace Square in front of the museum.
