Russia is issuing new banknotes with Crimea on them
The Central Bank of Russia is issuing new commemorative 100 rouble bank notes, which converts to less than £1, that feature the federal cities of Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea.
Here they are:
Russia confirmed that on one side of the note it shows a Crimean landmark - the "Swallow's Nest" castle - while on the other side it shows"scuttled ships in Sevastopol Bay."
Nearly two years ago, the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was controversially "reunified" with Russia by way of well equipped, organised, and trained "self-defense units," who were actually Russian special forces.
The operation to seize Crimea began on February 27, 2014, when an unidentified task force captured several government buildings including the parliament in Simferopol. Within a month, Putin signed a treaty to annex Crimea and has since then turned the peninsula into a Russian forward operating base.
However, many Western nations still do not recognise the annexation of Crimea because of Russia's military involvement. Russia, of course, deny any military involvement at all.
In March this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the mountain of criticism and economic sanctions placed on his country for the illegal annexation of Crimea were creating difficulty for Russia.