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Putin informs parliament about Crimea's application

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially informed the country's parliament and government on the request of Crimea to join Russia.

This is the first step in the process of adopting legislation that would allow Crimea to join Russia as a full member of the Federation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a formal legislative step toward annexing Crimea.

Putin has informed Russia's Parliament that Ukraine's autonomous region of Crimea, which approved with a 97% majority to secede from the country on a referendum held on Sunday, wishes to be incorporated into the Russian Federation, the BBC reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Monday a decree recognizing Crimea as a sovereign and independent country.

Crimean Parliament has approved a bill seizing assets of Ukrainian oil and gas enterprises operating in the region.

Resources owned by Chernomorneftegaz and Ukrtransgaz, entities dealing with extraction and transportation of fuel, have thus passed into the hands of local authorities, Russian agency RIA Novosti has reported.

From economic point of view, there is no sense for Russia to annex Crimea, writes the German newspaper Die Welt. 

The newspaper quotes Russia's finance minister Anton Siluanov who said that the annual deficit in Crimea's budget is around EUR 700 M and nearly half of it has been covered by Ukraine's state budget. 

BRUSSELS - The Foreign Minister of Croatia and Greece Monday sent their congratulations to Serbia for successfully holding its parliamentary elections on Sunday.

I congratulate all those who achieved good results, Croatia’s Minister Vesna Pusic told reporters ahead of the beginning of the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday.

Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev has formally approved the partial mobilization of 40 000 reservists.

The move, which was initiated by a presidential decree, is in response to the "war-time" situation, as lawmakers described Crimea region's vote to join Russia.

The population of Ukraine's Crimea region has backed a split from Ukraine, local election officials have said.

On a referendum on Sunday, 97% of voters, or more than 1.2 million people, cast their ballot in favour of joining the Russian Federation, RIA Novosti has reported.

A former prisoner testified that ex-Croatian Defence Council fighter Josip Tolic, who is on trial for abusing Serb detainees, beat him up while he was held captive in Odzak in 1992.

Ukraine's Crimea votes to join Russian Federation

SIMFEROPOL -- Exit polls conducted at 200 polling stations showed that 93 percent of residents of Crimea voted in favor of this Ukrainian republic joining Russia.

Tanjug said in its report that the source for this number was the Republic Institute for Political and Social Research.