13:51 06.03.2014

Crimean parliament votes to join Russia, moves referendum date to March 16

3 min read
Crimean parliament votes to join Russia, moves referendum date to March 16

The proposed referendum on the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has been moved from March 30 to March 16.

The Crimean Supreme Council passed a resolution on joining the Russian Federation and the holding of the Crimean referendum, including in Sevastopol, on Thursday, the press centre of the Crimean parliament has reported.

"The Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea resolved: To join the Russian Federation as a constituent of the Russian Federation; To hold on March 16, 2014, an all-Crimea referendum (including Sevastopol)," the resolution reads.

According to the document, the referendum ballot paper will contain two questions:

1. Do you support Crimea's reunification with Russia?

2. Do you support the restoration of the Constitution of the Crimean Republic dated 1992 and Crimea's status as a part of Ukraine?

The question which gets most votes will be seen as a direct expression of the will of the population of Crimea, the document reads.

The referendum papers will be printed in the Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages.

The Crimean parliament also addressed President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Federal Assembly of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with a proposal to initiate the procedure of Crimea's joining Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation.

Vice Speaker of the Crimean Parliament Serhiy Tsekov told reporters that 86 out of the total of 100 members of the Supreme Council took part in the voting.

As reported, on March 2, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine asked the District Administrative Court in Kyiv to cancel the Crimean Supreme Council's decisions to pass a no-confidence motion to the Council of Ministers and to dismiss it, to appoint Serhiy Aksionov as the Crimean prime minister, as well as to schedule a local referendum the status and powers of autonomy.

The court suspended these decisions.

Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine Oleh Makhnitsky said earlier that criminal proceedings have been opened against a number of politicians, including Aksionov and Crimean Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Konstantinov. They are charged with an attempt to forcibly change or overthrow the constitutional order or seize the state power, an encroachment on the territorial integrity and other crimes against the state.

Makhnitsky also warned that any action taken by these persons would not have any legal consequences.

These actions include the preparations of a referendum, which cannot be held as a relevant decision of local authorities is unlawful, he said.

On March 5, Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv has granted a petition of pre-trial investigation agencies requesting detention of Aksionov and Konstantinov.

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