article_snippet: Russian President Vladimir Putin joined tens of thousands of cheering supporters to mark one year since Russian President Vladimir Putin takeover of Crimea move that shattered ties with Ukraine and the Westthe West.
article_snippet: Impassioned justification: Russian President Vladimir Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin told crowds the takeover of Crimea was to help and support 'our compatriots' An estimated 110,000 people attended the concert marking one year since Russian President Vladimir Putin's takeover of Crimea .
article_snippet: We understood that in terms of Crimea it was not a matter of just some territory, however strategically important it is,' Russian President Vladimir Putin told the flag-waving crowd before joining in a rendition of the national anthem. '
article_snippet: It was a matter of millions of Russian people, our compatriots, who needed our help and support.'
article_snippet: Despite condemnation from the West and Kiev that the radical redrawing of Europe's borders amounted to an illegal land grab, people at the event echoed the belief of many Russians that the annexation had corrected a historical injustice. '
article_snippet: President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty claiming the Black Sea region of Crimea as Russian territory with Crimean prime minister Sergei Aksyonov two days after more than 97 per cent of Crimeans voted in favour of joining Russia in a disputed referendum on March 16 last year.
article_snippet: A man attending the celebrations holds a banner reading: 'Russia and Crimea are together forever' President Vladimir Putin claims President Vladimir Putin was forced to take over Crimea - home to Russia's key Black Sea Fleet - to protect ethnic Russians in the wake of the ouster of Ukraine's Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.
article_snippet: To many Russians, it was considered justified payback for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev handing the region to Ukraine in 1954 in what was then a largely symbolic move since Ukraine and Russia were both part of the USSR.
article_snippet: The move sent relations with Kiev and the West into a tailspin that has seen sanctions batter the Russian economy and Crimea placed under an effective economic blockade by Ukraine.
article_snippet: A pro-Russian rebellion - which the West says has been orchestrated by Moscow - quickly also engulfed part of Ukraine's industrial east, sparking a nearly year-long conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives.
article_snippet: To many Russians, Russia's takeover was considered justified payback for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev handing the region to Ukraine in 1954 .
highlights_snippet: Russian President Vladimir Putin made an impassioned justification for seizing the Black Sea peninsula .
  
highlights_snippet: Russian President Vladimir Putin claims takeover was to help and support 'our compatriots'
  Russia's annexation of Crimea shattered ties with Ukraine and the West .