Exclusive: Puy du Fou worked with under-sanctions oligarch on plans for Crimea resort longer than disclosed, and later courted Iran and China

In February 2014, thousands of “little green men” – Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms – flooded into Crimea, seizing control of military bases and infrastructure.

Their arrival marked the opening salvo of Vladimir Putin’s annexation of the peninsula, an operation that ultimately escalated into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.