Putin's Man In Crimea: We've 'Returned To Russia Forever'
As the U.S. issues more sanctions over the Ukraine conflict and Russia's annexation of Crimea, Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov speaks with NPR in Simferopol and lays out his vision for the region.
When heavily armed Russian troops began fanning out across Crimea in February 2014, one man stepped out of the shadows to lead the movement to break off from Ukraine and join Russia.
Sergei Aksyonov, then the head of a small pro-Kremlin party, was appointed the leader of Crimea and oversaw a referendum in favor of the split that few countries recognized. The lightning Russian takeover was a watershed moment, leading to a downward spiral in relations
