Simferopol, Ukraine: Crimea declared independence on Monday and applied to join Russia. The flashpoint peninsula voted to leave Ukraine in a ballot that has fanned the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War.
Official results from Sunday’s disputed referendum showed 96.77 per cent of voters in the mostly Russian-speaking region opting for Kremlin rule in what would be the most radical redrawing of the map of Europe since Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
Crimea’s lawmakers also declared the Russian ruble the peninsula’s second official currency and vowed to “disband” the Ukrainian military units stationed across the region — a move that threatens to inflame the raging security crisis on the European Union’s eastern frontier.
European Union (EU) foreign ministers agreed sanctions on Monday against 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials deemed responsible for the referendum in Crimea, officials said.
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said that the 21 would be targeted by travel bans and asset freezes.
Illegal actions
“These are persons from so-called Crimea leadership and Russian representatives, specifically from Duma and representatives of military forces, that took part in these illegal actions,” he told AFP.
The minister said in a tweet that there would be “more EU measures in a few days.”
Leaders of the 28-nation bloc are to hold summit talks in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, with the crisis in Ukraine expected to top the agenda.
The list of those sanctioned by the ministers will be released in the EU’s daily Official Journal but diplomats said 13 were from Russia and 8 from Ukraine’s Crimea region. They were targeted “for undermining the sovereignty of Ukraine.”
The ministers met after a referendum on Sunday showed an overwhelming majority in Crimea in favour of joining Russia, a vote the EU condemned as illegal and in violation of Moscow’s own international commitments to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The vote was strongly condemned by Washington and Brussels.
‘A great farce’
Ukraine’s interim president Oleksandr Turchynov denounced the vote as a “great farce” and watched from a podium as agitated lawmakers approved a partial mobilisation of the army aimed at countering Russian troops’ effective seizure of Crimea in the beginning of March.
The ex-Soviet nation’s acting defence minister Igor Tenyukh also firmly told reporters that the “troops deployed [in Crimea] will stay there.”
Most of the international community has rejected the referendum as illegal because Russia had vowed to respect its neighbour’s territorial integrity under a 1994 agreement that saw Ukraine renounce its Soviet-era nuclear arms.
But the government in Crimea announced a series of measures to sever ties with Kiev — including seizing Ukrainian institutions and even plans to set the peninsula on Moscow time, two hours ahead.
The White House said US President Barack Obama warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Washington and its allies would “never” recognise Crimea’s breakaway vote.
Obama warned that “Russia’s actions were in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and that, in coordination with our European partners, we are prepared to impose additional costs on Russia for its actions,” the White House said.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also said Europe needed to send the “strongest possible signals” to Russia at a meeting of the 28-nation bloc’s foreign ministers on Monday.
Defence of ethnic Russians
Putin has signalled no intention to turn back on what he describes as his defence of ethnic Russians who, according to Moscow, have come under increasing attack from Ukrainian ultra-nationalists since last month’s ouster in Kiev of a pro-Kremlin regime by a far more nationalist but Western-leaning team.
The Kremlin said Putin “emphasised” to Obama that the referendum “was fully in line with the norms of international law and the UN charter”.
It said Putin pointed out “the well-known precedent of Kosovo” — a mostly Muslim region of former Soviet ally Yugoslavia whose independence is backed by Washington but not recognised by the Kremlin.
Putin on Tuesday will make a special address on the crisis that will be attended by lawmakers from Russia’s two houses of parliament. Crimea’s self-declared leader Sergiy Aksyonov also tweeted on Monday that he was flying to Moscow for talks.
Russia’s lower house of parliament is expected to debate legislation on Friday simplifying the process under which the Kremlin can annex another part of a sovereign state.
Mistrust
But the overwhelming margin of victory for the pro-Kremlin camp underscores the mistrust the heavily Russified southeast of Ukraine shares for the European leanings of those who rose to power on the back of three months of deadly protests in Kiev.
Alcohol-fuelled celebrations swept cities across the diamond-shaped Black Sea peninsula as Russian flags flew and refrains from Soviet-era songs filled the rain-soaked streets.
“We’re free of the occupation!” Lucia Prokorovna said amid bursts of fireworks in Russia’s historic naval port of Sevastopol late on Sunday. “Ukraine was attached to Crimea like a sack of potatoes,” the 60-year-old said in reference to the decision by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushev — a native Ukrainian — to present the peninsula to Kiev as a gift in 1954.
Crimea’s self-declared premier Aksyonov — recognised by Moscow but rejected as illegitimate by Kiev and most of the world — hailed the referendum as a “historic moment”.
“We’re going home. Crimea is going to Russia,” he told those gathered on Lenin Square.
Mobilisation of reservists
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s interim government has endorsed a presidential decree to carry out a partial mobilisation involving 40,000 reservists. Andriy Paruby, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, told parliament that 20,000 reservists would be deployed in the armed forces and the rest in the newly created National Guard.
The speaker of the Crimean regional parliament said Ukrainian soldiers on the peninsula would be able to choose whether to side with the new separatist state or leave.
“The personnel of Ukraine’s armed forces will be given an alternative: serve in Crimea and swear allegiance to the republic, or continue outside the borders of Crimea in the Ukrainian army,” said Volodymyr Konstantynov.
