Most shops and restaurants are required to close no later than nine in the evening. All street events have been cancelled until further notice.
Few things are as important to Vladimir Putin as Crimea.
When the Russian president annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014 in violation of international law, his domestic popularity skyrocketed to almost 90 percent.
“Crimea has become a central symbol of Putin’s effort to right the ‘wrongs’ that allegedly occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” explained Czech journalist Ondřej Soukup, who specialises in Russia, for Denník N.
All the more unpleasant for Kremlin propaganda are the reports that have been coming from there in recent weeks.
