DUSHANBE, March 17, 2014, Asia-Plus — Russian state-run media sources said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula.
According to
RIA Novosti
quoted an election official as saying that partial results indicate more than 90% of Crimeans favor secession. Crimean officials say turnout was 83%.
With over half the votes counted, 95.5 percent had chosen the option of annexation by Moscow, the head of the referendum commission, Mikhail Malyshev, said two hours after polls closed.
Western powers and leaders in Kiev denounced it as a sham.
The Guardian
reports that Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama spoke by phone, with the White House saying it would ‘never recognize’ the referendum. The Russian president, however, insisted to his American counterpart that the vote accords to international law, adding that “ultra-nationalists and radical groups” threaten Russian “compatriots” in Ukraine.
According to
Reuters
, the White House also warned Moscow to expect sanctions while foreign ministers from the European Union, which has major trade ties with Russia, will decide on possible similar action in Brussels on Monday.
But Putin rejected Western accusations that the referendum was illegal, saying it respected the will of the Crimean people, while his foreign ministry said it had agreed with the United States to seek a solution to the crisis through constitutional reform.
Kiev said Moscow”s build-up of forces in the Black Sea peninsula was in “crude violation” of an international treaty, and announced plans to arm and train 20,000 members of a newly-created National Guard.
Ukraine’s acting PM Arseny Yatseniuk vowed to apprehend separatists “under the cover of Russian troops” and “bring them to justice.”
Yatseniuk had just returned from a U.S. trip where he reportedly won expressions of moral support but no offers of weapons.
The Guardian
reports that Russian and Ukraine agreed to a military truce until 21 March, but offered no solution for what happens after the deadline passes.
