Show of strength: Russia’s prime minister makes surprise visit to Crimea as footage emerges of freight trains loaded with equipment travelling to region



Residents film freight trains carrying military equipment into Crimea

Russia says it is withdrawing forces from Rostov region near Ukraine



Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev made surprise visit to Crime



He pledged Russia will pour in resources to annexed peninsula to improve education, health care and local infrastructure



Russia's prime minister promised to pour funds into Crimea during a surprise visit to the annexed peninsula today as the government looks to tighten their grip on the region.



Dimitry Medvedev pledged to give funds to improve power supplies, water lines and education while residents captured trains loaded with Russian military equipment travelling towards the capital Simferopol.

Leading a delegation of Cabinet ministers on a surprise visit, Medvedev also said he would quickly boost salaries and pensions.



Despite the show of political strength, Russian troops were pulled back from the border with Ukraine amid signs the Kremlin is being stung by Western sanctions.



Salute: Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev watches Russian troops marching as he takes part in a wreath laying ceremony at a World War Two Memorial Show of strength: Medvedev (front) visits the 13th Ship-Repairing Yard of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Defense Ministry in Sevastopol But Moscow has also made it clear they will not be handing back Crimea to defuse the worst crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin also tweeted a photo of himself upon his arrival in the region with the words 'Crimea is ours, and that's that'.

Medvedev said Russia will create a special economic zone in Crimea - a peninsula of two million people - that will create incentives for business with lower taxes and simpler rules.

Russia will also seek to develop the region as a top tourist destination and will try to ensure that plane tickets to Crimea are cheap enough to encourage more Russians to visit.

He said: 'We must create a new investment history for Crimea, which will be more successful than what it has been.'

Paying respects: Leading a delegation of cabinet members to the region, he lay a wreath at the city memorial for the defenders of Sevasatpol Military equipment: T-72 tanks are unloaded from railway platforms at a railway station in Gvardeyskoe village near Simferopol Power: Soliders unloaded the armoured vehicles which will be stationed in the region, strengthening Russia's military presence According to defence news website Intercepts, footage also emerged showing equipment on its way to Krasnodar Krai, a Russian peninsula between the Black Sea and Temyuk Bay, before it is loaded on to barges on their way to Port Krym in eastern Crimea. The United States says progress on resolving the East-West stand-off over Ukraine depends on Russia pulling back troops massed on the border. Following today's announcement by Russia, it was not clear whether other troops would pull back or had already withdrawn.

The Defence Ministry said it was pulling forces out of the Rostov region near Russia's border with Ukraine after month-long military exercises.

Residents in Crimea have captured on video Russia's military progression into the area

Videos have been posted online showing trains loaded with Russian equipment travelling west towards the Crimean capital Simferopol

The videos appear to show tanks, vehicles and other militay equipment as they are transported on flatbed freight trains

'The battalion ... has completed its field exercises at the Kadamovsky training grounds in the Rostov region and is beginning its march to its permanent base in the Samara region,' the ministry was quoted as saying.

A battalion numbers between 300 and 1,200 troops.



Russia says the build-up near the border is part of military exercises and there are no plans to move forces across the border into Ukraine, but the United States and NATO have voiced alarm over Moscow's intentions following its annexation of Crimea



A special government ministry has been created to oversee Crimea's development.

It was estimated that as many as 100,000 soldiers forward, but the figure has been reduced to 10,000.



According to defence news website Intercepts, the equipment appears to be on its way to Krasnodar Krai, a Russian peninsula between the Black Sea and Temyuk Bay, before being loaded on to barges on their way to Port Krym in eastern Crimea

Russia's prime minister promised to pour funds into the newly annexed peninsula during a surprise visit to Crimea today

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March after a hastily called referendum held just two weeks after Russian forces had overtaken the Black Sea region. Ukraine and the West have rejected the vote.

'People in Crimea mustn't lose anything after joining Russia, they must only make gains,' Medvedev added. 'People expect us to create conditions for calm and respectable life, confidence in tomorrow, the feeling of being part of a strong country. We must meet these expectations.'

Medvedev emphasized the need to ensure a stable power supply. Crimea currently gets about 80 percent of its electricity and a similar share of its water from Ukraine, and power cutoffs last week raised fears that the Ukrainian government could use energy as a weapon to bargain with Russia.

Medvedev said Russia already has made sure that Crimea has enough backup power capacity to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply. He added that Russia will work on long-term solutions to Crimea's energy problem that could involve linking the region to Russia's power grid or developing local power generation.

He said efforts will also be made to quickly repair water supply infrastructure to reduce loss of water. In the future, Crimea could get water supplies from Russia or create its own water reservoirs.

Russia's defense minister, meanwhile, announced Monday that all Crimean men of conscription age will get a deferral from the draft for one year.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, second left, speaks to school-children while visiting Crimea in Simferopol, Crimea, today

In Moscow, the lower house of parliament voted unanimously Monday to annul agreements with Ukraine on Russia's navy base in Crimea. In 2010, Ukraine allowed Russia to extend the lease of the fleet's base until 2042 on an annual rent of $98 million and price discounts for Russian natural gas supplies.

Medvedev has said that Russia had given Ukraine $11 billion in gas discounts in advance and should claim the money back once the lease deal is repealed. If Moscow makes the move, it would further raise pressure on the cash-strapped Ukrainian government that now depends on Western loans to avoid bankruptcy.

The United States and the European Union have slapped travel bans and asset freezes on members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle for the annexation and warned that Russia will face even more painful sanctions if it tries to invade eastern Ukraine.



U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov before the start of their meeting at the Russian Ambassador's residence about the situation in Ukraine, in Paris on Sunday

Ukraine and the West have also voiced concerns that the buildup of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine raises the threat of an invasion.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the issue during his talks in Paris with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday. The talks dragged on for four hours but did not produce any visible breakthroughs.



Russia has pushed for Ukraine to become a federation where regions would have broad powers - a clear attempt to preserve its leverage there by relying on Russian-speaking regions in the east and south. The U.S. says it's up to the Ukrainians to determine the structure of their government and Ukraine's new government has rejected Moscow's push for federalization.

Pro-Russian activists stand atop an old tank outside a museum in Donetsk on Sunday

But in a sign that Russian-U.S. talks could be inching toward a compromise, a senior Russian diplomat changed his tone Monday while speaking about Ukraine's presidential election on May 25, which the West has urged Moscow to recognize.

Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that the Ukrainian vote should be fair and transparent. While Karasin reaffirmed that constitutional reform in Ukraine should remain the top priority, his statement seemed to indicate a softening of Russia's previous stance that the presidential vote was premature and needed to be pushed back to the fall.