Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Jones in Sevastopol on August 19 and promised to grant him Russian citizenship as he conducts a considerable amount of his activities in Russia.

Putin traveled aboard the small submersible craft down to the seabed of the Black Sea to view an ancient Byzantine trading ship recently discovered off the coast of Crimea.

In a message sent to the company’s nearly 836,000 employees, Yakunin said their “expertise, sense of partnership and invaluable experience will serve the interests of the motherland”, the state-run Tass news service reported Tuesday. “And I love when people love me”, Jones replied.

It was hard to tell if Putin’s beige number or his smile was the brighter presence on the visit.

He also has ridden in submersibles to explore the Gulf of Finland and Lake Baikal.

Russian Federation has drawn criticism from the European rights watchdog OSCE, the United Nations, Council of Europe, and Turkey for its treatment of the Turkic-speaking minority, distrustful of Moscow after the 1944 mass deportation of their kin.

The subsea expedition was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society’s establishment 170 years ago, and the Kremlin has stated that the aim of Putin’s controversial three-day trip to the area is to promote tourism.

When asked if they believe Putin is guilty of various accusations of misuse of power levied by his opponents, 22 percent of respondents were certain he is innocent – twice as many as in April 2012.

In January 2014 only 34% of Russians supported Mr Putin, but that has significantly changed since the Sochi Olympics and Crimea annexation, with the latest polls giving him an 87% approval rating. Putin said later that he had been planning the move even before the referendum was held.

Meanwhile, the retaliatory sanctions Russia placed on imports of western food products have hurt Russian consumers more than foreign producers, with prices for consumer goods increasing while the economy craters.