SIMFEROPOL/BRUSSELS: Crimea formally applied to join Russia on Monday after its leaders declared a Soviet-style 97-percent vote in favor of quitting Ukraine in a referendum condemned as illegal by Kiev and the West that will trigger immediate sanctions.
European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels to decide on visa bans and asset freezes against Russian and Crimean officials held responsible for Moscow’s military seizure of the southern Ukrainian region that is home to its Black Sea fleet.
As state media in Russia carried a startling reminder of its power to turn the United States to “radioactive ash”, President Barack Obama spoke to Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian president that he and his European allies were ready to impose “additional costs” on Moscow for violating Ukraine’s territory.
The Kremlin and the White House issued statements saying Obama and Putin saw diplomatic options to resolve what is the gravest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.
But Obama said Russian forces must first end “incursions” into its ex-Soviet neighbor while Putin renewed his accusation that the new leadership in Kiev, brought to power by an uprising that toppled his elected Ukrainian ally last month, were failing to protect Russian-speakers from violent Ukrainian nationalists.
A complete preliminary count of Sunday’s vote showed that 96.77 percent of voters opted to join Russia, the chairman of the regional government commission overseeing the referendum, Mikhail Malyshev, announced live on television.
Officials said the turnout was 83 percent. Crimea is home to 2 million people. Members of the ethnic Ukrainian and Muslim Tatar minorities had said they would boycott the poll, held just three weeks after Russian forces took control of the peninsula.
Putin, whose popularity at home has been boosted by his action on Crimea despite a big hit to Russian markets, is to address an extraordinary joint session of the Russian parliament about Crimea on Tuesday, Itar-Tass news agency reported. Moscow defended the takeover of the majority ethnic Russian Crimea by citing a right to protect “peaceful citizens”. Ukraine’s interim government has mobilized troops to defend against an invasion of its eastern mainland, where pro-Russian protesters have been involved in deadly clashes in recent days.
MILITARY ACTION UNLIKELY
Russia’s lower house of parliament will pass legislation allowing Crimea to join Russia “in the very near future”, news agency Interfax cited its deputy speaker as saying on Monday.
“Results of the referendum in Crimea clearly showed that residents of Crimea see their future only as part of Russia,” Sergei Neverov was quoted as saying.
Japan on Monday echoed Western nations in rejecting the referendum and called on Russia not to annex Crimea. China, which abstained on a U.N. resolution last week rather than join Russia in vetoing it, called for calm and restraint but avoided comment on the referendum or the annexation issue.(Reuters)