Russia: Momument to Catherine the Great unveiled in Simferopol

A reconstructed monument to Empress Catherine the Great, who made Crimea part of the Russian Empire in 1783, were unveiled during an official ceremony in the Yekaterininski Garden in Simferopol, Friday, alongside two bronze statues of Prince Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski and Prince Vasili Mikhailovich Dolgorukov-Krymski.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, representatives of the clergy, Cossack guards, as well as hundreds of local citizens and visitors to the peninsula. "Historic justice has been restored with Crimea's reunification with the Motherland. Today's restoration is a tribute to the Empress and marks the restoration of justice," stated Aksenov during the ceremony.
The 10-metre-high monument with a bronze statue of the empress was first unveiled in 1890 in Simferopol but was dismantled in 1921 and totally destroyed during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Several attempts were made to restore the monument during the 1990s but were not backed up by the then-Ukrainian authorities. The renovation works, which were financed by public donations, started in 2014 following Crimea's reunification with Russia.