Sovereignty to annexation

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the recognition of the Republic of Crimea as an independent and sovereign state. The decree was published on Monday evening on the Kremlin website.

"Given the will of the peoples of Crimea at the General Crimean referendum, held on March 16, 2014, to recognize the Republic of Crimea, in which the city of Sevastopol has a special status, as a sovereign and independent state," the decree says. The document comes into force from the day of signing.

On Monday, the Crimean parliament proclaimed the independence of the republic and approved the results of the referendum. According to the Crimean election commission, more than 96 percent of the voting participants spoke out for the accession of Crimea to Russia. The Ukrainian authorities and the international community consider the referendum illegal - it contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine and was held in the conditions of occupation.

According to the results of the referendum, the Crimean authorities intend to appeal to Russia with a request to join as a subject of the Federation.

On Tuesday, Putin will make an extraordinary message to the Federal Assembly. On the coming Friday, the State Duma plans to consider immediately all the bills necessary for the Crimea to join in Russia, said Vice Speaker Sergey Neverov.

According to Izvestia, Moscow discusses two options for joining Crimea . In the first version, Crimea becomes the subject of the Russian Federation as an autonomous republic with the capital in Sevastopol. In the second version, the Crimean autonomy and Sevastopol are included in the Russian Federation as two different subjects. It is assumed that in both cases the highest official of the Crimea will become the elected head of the republic, the legislative power will be represented by a single -fed parliament.

In March, in March, mass demonstrations for the annexation of Crimea were held in Moscow. On March 15, Moscow took place in Moscow against the military aggression of Russia in the Crimea , in support of the Unified Free Ukraine.