Two years after annexation, Putin seeks to bind Crimea by bridge to Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin via a video link addresses people marking the second anniversary of Russia's annexation of the Crimea region in Moscow's Red Square, as he visits the construction site of the transport passage across the Kerch Strait on Tuzla island near the Black Sea port of Kerch, Crimea, March 18, 2016. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin

Tuzla Island, CRIMEA (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin, marking the anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, on Friday exhorted workers building a bridge between the Black Sea peninsula and Russia to fulfil an "historic mission" first conceived by a Russian tsar.

Russia seized the majority Russian-speaking Crimea from Ukraine on March 16, 2014 after an uprising toppled Ukraine's pro-Russian president, but the peninsula has since struggled with economic isolation.