Putin says Russia stronger with Crimea

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during his first visit to the Crimea region annexed from Ukraine in March, that Russia had become stronger with Crimea. "I am sure that 2014 will go into the annals of our whole country as the year when the nations living here firmly decided to be together with Russia, affirming fidelity to the historical truth and the memory of our ancestors," Putin said in a brief speech after watching a military parade in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol. "There is a lot of work ahead but we will overcome all difficulties because we are together, which means we have become stronger." (Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Nigel Stephenson)