Crimea Referendum Set for March 16

The referendum on the status of Crimеa was once more moved to an earlier date and will be held on March 16. 

According to Crimea's first deputy-prime minister Rustam Temirgaliev, Crimeans will be asked  to decide if the autonomous republic stays part of Ukraine or joins Russia. 
There will be two questions on the ballots. 

“The first one: Are you in favor of Crimea becoming a constituent territory of the Russian Federation? The second one: Are you in favor of restoring Crimea’s 1992 constitution?,” Temirgaliev said.

According to the 1992 constitution, the autonomous republic is part of Ukraine but has relations with Kiev, defined on the basis of mutual agreements.

Sevastopol residents will take part in the referendum, despite the city enjoying a special status and not officially being a part of Crimea, according to Sergey Shuvainikov, a Crimean MP.

“We will give Sevastopol an opportunity to have its say,” he said, quoted by RIA Novosti.

Meanwhile the Crimean MPs have unanimously voted for the region to become a part of Russia.

More than half the Crimean population is Russian and uses only this language for their communication. The residents announced they are going to hold a referendum to determine the fate of the Ukrainian autonomous region.