Crimea parliament votes unanimously to join Russia

March 6, 2014  9:15 AM EST

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The Crimean parliament has voted for the region to join Russia, not Ukraine

By Staff Writer

(INTELLIHUB) — The Crimean parliament has decided that joining Russia was the lesser of two evils, with a western backed revolution taking over Ukraine.
The speaker of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, said that the parliament’s decision to join Russia still needs to be approved by a referendum, which has been scheduled for March 16.
“We are not in a rush, but that’s what the current situation demands,” Konstantinov told Itar-Tass. ‘We are trying to address the sentiments currently shared by the population. Those are uncertainty and fear. We must give them confidence and offer a clear political way out of the crisis.”
There will be two questions on the Crimean referendum 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,” the region’s First Deputy-Premier Rustam Temirgaliev said.
The new Ukrainian government has declared the referendum illegal and opened a criminal investigation against Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Askyonov.
“If there weren’t constant threats from the current illegal Ukrainian authorities, maybe we would have taken a different path,” deputy parliament speaker Sergei Tsekov told reporters outside the parliament building in Crimea’s main city of Simferopol.
“I think there was an annexation of Crimea by Ukraine, if we are going to call things by their name. Because of this mood and feeling we took the decision to join Russia. I think we will feel much more comfortable there,” he added.