President Vladimir V. Putin made a shock go to to occupied Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s unlawful annexation of the peninsula, state media reported on Saturday, a defiant gesture simply in the future after a global courtroom issued a warrant for his arrest.

Mr. Putin had been scheduled to take part in ceremonies in Crimea through video hyperlink, however as a substitute he traveled to the Black Sea port metropolis of Sevastopol, native officers mentioned. State media broadcast photographs of Mr. Putin, wearing a cardigan, visiting a youngsters’s artwork faculty and talking with Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor of Sevastopol.

“On such a historic day, the president is at all times with Sevastopol and the individuals of Sevastopol,” Mr. Razvozhaev wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Our nation has an unbelievable chief.”

The go to signaled the Kremlin’s willpower to proceed with enterprise as standard, lower than 24 hours after the Worldwide Legal Court docket accused Mr. Putin of warfare crimes and issued a warrant for his arrest. The courtroom mentioned that he bore felony duty for the kidnapping and deportation of Ukrainian youngsters, 1000’s of whom have been despatched to Russia since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine greater than a yr in the past. Russian officers dismissed the courtroom’s announcement as meaningless and vowed to not cooperate.

The pictures of Mr. Putin strolling freely in Crimea — whose seizure by Russian troops in 2014 was a precursor to his full-scale invasion of Ukraine final February — and his determination to go to a youngsters’s faculty illustrated how the warrant was unlikely to vary his conduct, even when it punctured the aura of impunity that has surrounded him.

However Russia — which is scheduled to obtain China’s chief, Xi Jinping, for a state go to starting on Monday — additionally agreed on Saturday to increase a deal permitting grain shipments to go away Ukraine, one of many few examples of cooperation between the combatants since Mr. Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The United Nations and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, who helped dealer the preliminary settlement, introduced the last-minute extension of the deal, which lets Ukrainian grain ships move by means of a Russian naval blockade within the Black Sea and has helped alleviate world meals shortages and restrict worth will increase.

The size of the extension remained unclear on Saturday. Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, mentioned on Twitter that the deal had been prolonged for 120 days.

The Russian Overseas Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, nevertheless, mentioned her nation had solely agreed to increase the settlement for 60 days, in keeping with the state information outlet Tass. A assertion from the United Nations didn’t say how lengthy it might final.

The grain deal had been set to run out in a while Saturday. Earlier within the week Russia had mentioned it might comply with an extension of solely 60 days as a result of its personal meals and fertilizer exports had been being hampered by sanctions. Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations pushed for a 120-day renewal, in step with the preliminary settlement in July and with a subsequent extension in November.

The deal permits ships carrying grain and fertilizer from Ukraine secure passage to Turkish waters, the place they’re inspected by a joint group of Turkish, U.N., Ukrainian and Russian officers.

“This settlement, which has offered the cargo of 25 million tons of grain to the world markets with greater than 800 ships up to now, is of significant significance for the steadiness of the worldwide meals provide,” Mr. Erdogan mentioned on nationwide tv.

Although the settlement was a uncommon diplomatic breakthrough between Ukraine and Russia for the reason that warfare started, Moscow has held the deal hostage at varied factors. In late October, the Kremlin abruptly suspended its participation after an assault on its warships within the port of Sevastopol, however it rejoined a number of days later.

Ukraine is a number one exporter of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower, however its shipments plummeted after the warfare started. Exports from Russia, one other main provider, fell as effectively.

Talks on extending the deal started Monday in Geneva. Settlement on the earlier extension, in November, was reached with days to spare.

The grain travels by means of the Black Sea, the place Russia’s highly effective naval fleet runs up towards three members of NATO — Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria — that share the coast. This week, an American surveillance drone was introduced down within the sea after being struck by a Russian fighter jet, U.S. officers mentioned. That was the primary recognized bodily contact between the Russian and American militaries for the reason that warfare started.

In latest months, Russian warships within the Black Sea have fired cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets which can be generally lots of of miles away, hitting cities and cities and damaging the nation’s power infrastructure.

On Monday, Mr. Putin is scheduled to host Mr. Xi, China’s high chief, in Russia for the beginning of a state go to. The journey by Mr. Xi, whose authorities has not commented on the I.C.C. warrant, highlights how Russia has maintained relationships with highly effective allies which have cushioned the impact of Western diplomatic isolation and sanctions.

American officers say that China up to now has avoided supplying Russia with army assist to be used in Ukraine. President Biden has emphasised to Mr. Xi that any such transfer would have “critical penalties” for the U.S.-China relationship, U.S. officers say.

Prime U.S. army officers held a telephone name on Friday with Ukrainian leaders together with President Volodymyr Zelensky, who provided “an replace on battlefield circumstances and expressed appreciation for the continued provision of U.S. safety help,” in keeping with a White Home abstract of the decision.

On Saturday, Mr. Putin additionally issued extra draconian penalties supposed to silence warfare critics in Russia, signing a legislation that criminalizes talking out towards anybody combating in Ukraine, together with volunteers and others “facilitating the Russian Armed Forces’ missions.” The brand new legislation goals to stop criticism of fighters, together with these from the Wagner non-public army firm, which has been on the forefront of Russia’s bloody, monthslong effort to seize the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut.

The transfer got here as Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founding father of Wagner, mentioned on the Telegram messaging app that his group deliberate to enroll about 30,000 new fighters by mid-Could, from recruitment facilities established in dozens of cities. Mr. Prigozhin, who had beforehand instructed that Wagner would possibly wind down fight operations, gave no proof to assist his declare, which got here after weeks of complaints that Russia’s Protection Ministry was denying his group important assist, together with ammunition.

Ivan Nechepurenko and Nick Cumming-Bruce contributed reporting.