Russia Duma ratifies Crimea reunification treaty
Iran Press TV
Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:22PM GMT
Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has overwhelmingly approved a treaty to annex Ukraine's strategic Black Sea peninsula of Crimea into the Russian Federation.
On Thursday, a total of 443 lawmakers voted in favor of the ratification treaty while one member of the parliament voted against.
Crimea reunification treaty is set to be considered by the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, on Friday.
The latest development comes only two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the treaty with Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov and other Crimean leaders.
On Wednesday, Russia's Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that a treaty reunifying the Ukrainian breakaway region of Crimea with Russia is lawful.
The court, based in Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, held an emergency session following a formal request by Putin to assess the constitutionality of the historic agreement signed a day earlier.
"The Constitutional Court recognized that this treaty complies with the Russian Constitution,' court chairman, Valery Zorkin, told journalists after the session.
Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier, in which 96.8 percent of Crimean residents voted in favor of the secession. The voter turnout in the referendum stood at 83.1 percent.
The move sparked angry reactions from the United States and the European Union, both imposing punitive measures against a number of Russian officials as well as authorities in Crimea.
Ukrainian lawmakers have announced that they will never recognize Russia's accession of Crimea, vowing to fight for the liberation of the region as long as it takes.
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