SIMFEROPOL, Mar 17: Crimea will formally apply to join Russia today after voting to split from Ukraine as Europe prepared to hit Moscow with a wave of sanctions in the worst East-West stand-off since the Cold War.
An overwhelming 95.5 per cent of voters on the mostly Russian-speaking peninsula chose to secede from Ukraine, according to partial results from yesterday’s referendum, which the Kremlin is accused of orchestrating.
Crimea’s regional assembly will meet today to apply to merge with Russia, a process that could take months and is mired in uncertainty for a region that remains heavily dependent on the Ukraine mainland.
There was sharp international condemnation of the vote, which could see the most radical redrawing of the map of Europe since Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
The European Union said the referendum was “illegal and illegitimate” and its outcome would not be recognised.
In Brussels, European foreign ministers are expected to unfurl sanctions including visa bans and asset freezes against leading figures in Moscow. However, members of the Russian Government are not expected to be affected.
US President Barack Obama phoned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin yesterday and told him the vote “under duress of Russian military intervention, would never be recognised by the United States and the international community.”
Obama threatened “additional costs” for Moscow after the US last week imposed visa bans targeting those blamed for threatening the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Crimea has emerged as the epicentre of a crisis that erupted when the splintered ex-Soviet nation’s Russian-leaning president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted last months after months of bloody pro-EU demonstrations in Kiev.
The downfall of Yanukovych’s regime prompted Russia to move forces into Crimea, where pro-Moscow officials declared independence and hurriedly organised the referendum.
Alcohol-fuelled celebrations swept cities across the Black Sea peninsula, where thousands waved Russian flags and sang Soviet-era songs.
“We’re free of the occupation!” Lucia Prokorovna, 60, said in Sevastopol, strategic home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet. “Ukraine was attached to Crimea like a sack of potatoes.”
Crimea’s self-declared premier Sergiy Aksyonov hailed the referendum as an “historic moment”.
“We’re going home. Crimea is going to Russia,” he told those gathered on Lenin Square.
However, not everybody in the peninsula was happy at the prospect of a return to Kremlin rule.
Crimea’s indigenous Muslim Tatar community — deported to Central Asia en masse by Stalin – largely boycotted the referendum. (AGENCIES)
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