WOW talk about fast tracking secession
First there is supposed to referendeum on May 25th
Then changed to March 30th
Then changed to March 16th
Then refusal to participate in May 25th elections
Then just voted for secession in Parliament
Get the impression they are under tremendous pressure?
Crimean Parliament Votes To Join Russia As EU Mulls Action On Ukraine
http://www.rferl.org/content/eu-expected-to-discuss-possible-measures-on-moscow-over-crimea/25287303.html
By RFE/RL
Last updated (GMT/UTC): 06.03.2014 12:25
The parliament in Ukraine's Crimea region has voted to join Russia, as EU leaders began discussing a response to the occupation of Crimea by Russian forces.
Crimea's First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev said a referendum on the issue will be held on March 16 -- much earlier than previously announced. The 100-seat parliament voted 78-0, with eight abstentions, in favor of holding the referendum and for joining Russia.
Temirgaliyev said the decision to join Crimea to Russia "takes effect the moment it is made -- that is, beginning today." He said a referendum was needed "for the people of Crimea to confirm this decision made by the parliament."
However, Refat Chubarov, the leader of the Crimean Tatars, said his community will not recognize the results of the referendum.
Pro-Russian authorities in Crimea originally said a referendum on the territory?s status would be held on May 25, the same day with the Ukrainian presidential election, then pushed the date forward to March 30.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Pavlo Sheremeta called the referendum "unconstitutional." Russian President Vladimir Putin is reported to have discussed Ukraine, including the Crimean parliament's appeal, at a Security Council meeting on March 6.
The pro-Russian leadership in Crimea is viewed as illegitimate by Ukraine's new central authorities, who have issued arrest warrants for the territory's pro-Russian prime minister, Sergei Aksyonov, and the parliament speaker.
Pro-Russian authorities in Crimea originally said a referendum on the territory's status would be held May 25, then pushed the date forward to March 30. Crimea has a Russian-speaking majority and hosts Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
In related news, Aksyonov said late on March 5 that some 11,000 of what he called "self-defense" troops had been deployed to help control all access points to the Crimean Peninsula.
Earlier this week, Aksyonov said "self-defense units" in Crimea were armed with "shields and sticks" and many had "legally registered" weapons.
Reports have suggested many of the "self-defense" troops are Russian. Russia's government has denied sending extra military forces to Crimea following the collapse of the pro-Russian Ukrainian government.
READ MORE: Who Are Russian Forces In Crimea?
http://www.rferl.org/content/russian-forces-in-crimea--who-are-they-and-where-did-they-come-from/25285238.html
European Union leaders, meanwhile, are meeting to discuss further measures in response to Russia's actions in Crimea.
Speaking in Brussels on March 6 ahead of the summit, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk called the situation "not just a Ukrainian-Russia crisis" but a "crisis in Europe." He called on Moscow to sit down for dialogue.
"A lot of options are on the table," he said. "We stick to the political option and it depends on Russia whether Russia is ready to fix this conflict, whether Russia is ready to have a real debate over the ways how to stabilize the situation, or [whether] Russia is, as always, reluctant and will try to increase the tension, as they did a few hours ago."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said that the EU must send a clear message to Russia.
"First, we've got to make sure that we get Russia and Ukraine talking to each other. Second, we've got to demonstrate, here, in the European Union, that we will help the Ukrainian people in their hour of need," Cameron said.
"And third, and just as vital, we need to send a very clear message to the Russian government that what has happened is unacceptable and should have consequences and were further actions to be taken that would be even more unacceptable and would require even more consequences. "
EU Freezes 'Misappropriated' Assets
The summit in Brussels comes after the EU froze assets held in the 28-nation bloc by ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and 17 other officials, including former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
The list also includes the former head of Ukraine's Security Service, a former prosecutor-general, a former interior minister, a former justice minister, and Yanukovych's son Oleksandr. The officials on the list are suspected of embezzling state funds and illegally transferring the funds outside Ukraine.
The freeze applies within the territory of the EU, including its airspace, for the next 12 months.
The European Union on March 5 decided to freeze the assets of 18 Ukrainian citizens responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds.
'Tough' U.S.-Russian Talks Go Nowhere
The emergency summit in Brussels comes a day after little progress was reported in talks in Paris involving ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Britain, and France.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described his meeting in Paris with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as "tough" and said the two would meet again on March 6 in Rome.
"We agreed to continue intense discussions in the coming days with Russia, with the Ukrainians in order to see how we can help normalize the situation, stabilize it and overcome the crisis, and those intentions are intentions that are shared exactly as I have described them between Russia, the United States, the European countries and Ukrainians who were here," Kerry said.
"All parties agreed today that it was important to try to resolve these issues through dialogue."
In Paris, Lavrov refused to meet his Ukrainian counterpart. The Kremlin insists the new authorities in Kyiv are not legitimate.
Talks in Paris came amid ongoing tensions in Ukraine's Crimea, where pro-Russian forces are locked in a tense standoff with the Ukrainian military.
Lavrov repeated Moscow's claims that the troops that have seized control of much of the Black Sea peninsula are not under Russian command, but rather local "self-defense" forces, a claim largely dismissed in the West.
In an unusually blunt move, the U.S. State Department has all but accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of lying about events in Ukraine. A fact sheet released on March 5 titled "Putin's Fiction: 10 False Claims About Ukraine" says Putin has ignored or distorted facts in "justifying Russian aggression."
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/03/222988.htm
The State Department refutes Putin's assertion that "citizens' defense groups," not Russian forces, have seized infrastructure and military facilities in Crimea. It says "strong evidence suggests that members of Russian security services are at the heart of the highly organized anti-Ukraine forces in Crimea."
It also disputes claims of a humanitarian crisis, that Russia's bases and ethnic Russians in the country are under threat, reports of mass attacks on churches and synagogues, and that the Ukrainian parliament is "under the influence of extremists or terrorists."
Angry Mob
A UN envoy was forced to leave Crimea after being confronted by an angry pro-Russian mob.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said that Robert Serry "was met outside the naval headquarters [in Crimea] by a number of unidentified men who were saying he should leave Crimea and go to the airport. He went into the car, stayed inside the car. The car couldn't move so then he got out of the car and walked back to the hotel. On his way to the hotel he stopped by a cafe to call me and that's when we talked."
Serry has since flown to Istanbul.
WATCH: UN envoy Robert Serry's car is surrounded by an angry mob.
http://www.rferl.org/media/video/25286985.html
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, pro-Russian protesters retook control of the regional administration building but reportedly vacated voluntarily on March 6 morning. Reuters reports that the Ukrainian flag is again flying over the building.
The headquarters has changed hands several times over the past days, with pro-Moscow demonstrators flying the Russian flag overnight. A Ukrainian police spokeswoman said authorities on March 6 "recommended" that people leave the building and that "everyone left."
Police at the scene said dozens of demonstrators were detained, including local self-styled protest leader Pavel Gubarev. The police spokeswoman could not immediately confirm any arrests. Gubarev is on a wanted list issued by the government on March 5.
Donetsk is the home city of deposed President Yanukovych and has seen regular pro-Moscow demonstrations.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, dpa, Interfax, and ITAR-TASS
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