Putin visit to Crimea angers US and EU

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed the annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea during a visit, which coincides with the anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.

Putin sailed into the port of Sevastopol on Friday for the commemorations, his first trip to the region since it seceded from Ukraine and became part of Russia in March.

Watching a military parade, Putin said: "I am sure that 2014 will go into the annals of our whole country as the year when the nations living here firmly decided to be together with Russia, affirming fidelity to the historical truth and the memory of our ancestors."

But the US state department said the trip was "provocative and unnecessary".  The White House warned that Putin's visit to Crimea would only exacerbate tensions.

"We do not accept Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. Such a visit will only serve to fuel tensions," National Security Council spokesman Laura Magnuson said.

The visit also drew swift response from Kiev, with Ukraine's foreign ministry calling it a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty.

"Ukraine expresses its strong protest over the unapproved," visit of Putin, the statement said, adding that the Russian president "blatantly ignored Ukrainian legislation and international law".

"This provocation once again confirms that Russia deliberately seeks further escalation of tensions in Russian-Ukrainian relations and does not want to resolve problematic issues... through diplomatic channels."

Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said the EU "regretted" the presence of Mr Putin at a military parade in Crimea's port of Sevastopol.

"An important day in our shared history, dedicated to honouring the enormous sacrifices and giving remembrance to the millions of dead in the Second World War, should not have been instrumentalised to give visibility to the illegal annexation of Crimea," she said.

Nato's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Putin's visit was "inappropriate".

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov spoke again by telephone on Friday, but both sides later reiterated their stated positions.