Crimea votes for independence from Ukraine
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UKRAINE’S Crimea peninsula voted yesterday for full independence from Ukraine, in preparation for a referendum to join Russia.
Pro-Kremlin militants on the flashpoint peninsula also seized control of air traffic control at its main international airport and cancelled all flights except for those from Moscow.
The latest escalation of Europe’s worst crisis in decades came moments after ousted pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych defiantly vowed to return to Kiev from Russia and declared he was still the leader of the ex-Soviet state.
“As soon as the circumstances allow — and I am sure there is not long to wait — I will without doubt return to Kiev,” Yanukovych told reporters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Yanukovych still enjoys Moscow’s recognition and remains a political wildcard who the Kremlin says is pushing for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the most explosive East-West standoff since the Cold War.
Crimea has been a tinderbox since Russian forces seized control of the rugged peninsula — home to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet since the 18th century — after Yanukovych fled Ukraine last month following deadly unrest.
The strategic region’s self-declared rulers are recruiting volunteers to fight Ukrainian soldiers while Russia’s parliament yesterday prepared legislation that would simplify the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea after Sunday’s vote.
But the pro-European leaders in Kiev have rejected the referendum and are appealing to Western powers for both diplomatic backing and pressure on Moscow to release its troops’ stranglehold on the region of 2 million people.
NATO announced the planned deployment of AWAC reconnaissance planes in member countries Poland and Romania to monitor Russian movements.
And French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned that sanctions against Russia could come as early as this week if Moscow failed to respond to Western proposals.
The dramatic step by Crimea’s parliamentary assembly yesterday in issuing a declaration proclaiming independence from Kiev came after the body had earlier voted to join Russia.
The latest move appeared aimed at creating a legal framework to become part of Russia as a sovereign state.
A parliamentary statement referred to Kosovo’s US-backed separation from Serbia and said “the unilateral declaration of independence of part of a state does not violate any international laws.”
The sense of Crimea slipping out of Kiev’s grasp intensified yesterday when gunmen took over air traffic control of the airport in the regional capital Simferopol and refused landing rights to a flight from the Ukrainian capital.
“Air traffic control has been taken over, as well as the runway,” a militia member named Ivan said.
Ukraine’s Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov tried to seize back the initiative by calling on parliament to create a “national guard” and begin mobilizing reservists and volunteers.
“The national guard must protect Ukraine and its citizens against any criminal,” he told parliament.
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