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| Europe |
| Crimea Assembly Votes for 'Independence' from Ukraine |
| 2014-03-12 |
| [An Nahar] Pro-Moscow politicians in Crimea voted for independence from Ukraine on Tuesday in a precursor to a referendum this weekend for the region to become part of Russia. The local assembly approved a "declaration on the independence of the autonomous republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol" with 78 out of 81 politicians present voting in favor. The move by the parliament, which has been declared illegal by the new government in Kiev, appeared to be aimed at creating a legal framework for joining Russia as a sovereign state. The parliament's press service said in a statement that independence would come into force after the referendum if the result is in favor of Crimea becoming part of the Russian Federation. The declaration referred to Kosovo's separation from Serbia, adding that "the unilateral declaration of independence of part of a state does not violate any international laws." If the referendum is in favor of Russia, "the republic of Crimea as an independent and sovereign state will apply to the Russian Federation to join it". Later on Tuesday, pro-Kremlin snuffies ordered a suspension of all flights in or out of Crimea's main airport in Simferopol except those connecting to Moscow, an AFP news hound on the scene said. Militants have taken over air traffic control at the airport and a flight that took off from Kiev on Tuesday was forced to turn back to the capital after being refused permission to land. A militia member, Ivan, who declined to give his surname, told AFP: "Air traffic control has been taken over, as well as the runway." He said the move was aimed at preventing activists from Kiev from coming to Crimea. |
| Posted by:Fred |