The Cult of Putin — and Trump — Grows in Crimea
- Two years after annexation, Russian tourists are everywhere
- ‘Crimea Is Ours’ shirts, Putin-the-Liberator magnets sell fast
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From the Russian city of Perm, on the outer edges of the Ural Mountain range, to the peninsula of Crimea, it’s about 1,800 miles. By car, that’s a good 40 hours, give or take a few.
Undaunted, the Shvetsovs, Sergey and Irina, loaded their two young kids into the backseat of their Russian-made Lada -- a little, ruby-red thing, all faded and rickety -- and hit the highway one day early last month. They drove day and night, through the vast European Plain, past Moscow, down to the Black Sea, and finally, by ferry, across the Kerch Strait.