SIMFEROPOL: The Crimean parliament on Tuesday voted for independence from Ukraine, paving the way for the upcoming referendum for the Crimean Autonomous Republic and the city of Sevastopol to join Russia.
The independence declaration was approved during an extraordinary session of parliament, while 78 of 100 members of the parliament voted in favor of the declaration.
“We, the members of the parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council, with regard to the charter of the United Nations and a whole range of other international documents and taking into consideration the confirmation of the status of Kosovo by the United Nations International Court of Justice on July, 22, 2010, which says that unilateral declaration of independence by a part of the country doesn’t violate any international norms, make this decision,” says the text of the declaration.
“We adopted the declaration of independence to make the upcoming referendum legitimate and transparent,” the speaker of the Supreme Council of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov said.
“Now we declare ourselves the Republic of Crimea, we don’t add ‘autonomous,” Konstantinov said.
Konstantinov said that after Tuesday’s declaration of independence, Crimea will never rejoin Ukraine. He said that Crimea will adopt the Russian ruble as its currency soon after the referendum.
In a statement the parliament’s press service said that if the referendum, which is scheduled to be held on March 16, produces result in favour of Crimea becoming part of the Russian Federation, independence will come into force.
