21:03
16.3.2014
Russian media report that the sponsor of a draft bill in Russia’s State Duma that would allow Russia to accept Crimea’s annexation by the Kremlin says lawmakers will “approve all laws as soon as reasonably possible.” Sergei Mironov, the leader of the Just Russia party, made the remarks on Russian state television after exit polls in Crimea suggested overwhelming support in the regional referendum for Crimea to join the Russian Federation.
"All will happen strictly and quickly. Our Crimean brothers should not have any doubts," Mironov said.
"All will happen strictly and quickly. Our Crimean brothers should not have any doubts," Mironov said.
21:16
16.3.2014
Nina Khrushcheva, a Russian-American professor with the World Policy Institute think tank and granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, told CNN's Hala Gorani that today's Crimean referendum was "illegal, adding:
"Ukrainians were very close to us throughout history -- you know, Great Russia as it was called versus Small Russia as Ukraine was known -- and they were really Slavic brothers in so many different ways. Today I am very fearful that that relationship really has been severed very brutally. I really don't want to be hated by Ukrainians, but it does seem that they have all the right to hate us as much as, you mentioned before, the Crimean Tatars do hate the Soviets and are afraid of the Russians."
21:27
16.3.2014
Trenin declares the Cold War back on. Describes 1989-2014 as "inter-Cold War period." RT @WorldsApart_RT: http://t.co/cWMkaJmVBM #Crimea
— Ellen Barry (@EllenBarryNYT) March 16, 2014
21:35
16.3.2014
Urging a "fundamental reassessment" of the U.S. relationship with Moscow, Senator John McCain on CNN dismissively calls Russia "a gas station masquerading as a country."
21:37
16.3.2014
Crimean election officials say that with votes counted from more than half of the polling stations in today's referendum, 95 percent of the voters support joining Russia.
Aksyonov weighs in:
Aksyonov weighs in:
95,5% - За. 3,5% - Против, 1% - бюллетеней признаны недействительными!
— Сергей Аксенов (@sergyaksenov) March 16, 2014
21:45
16.3.2014
RT @MiriamElder Uh, the Russian foreign ministry is now sharing WWII-era poetry https://t.co/yag1z5mRt1 …
— Blogs of War (@BlogsofWar) March 16, 2014
21:46
16.3.2014
Three missing Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church priests, thought to have been abducted by "self-defense" forces in Crimea, have turned up "safe," according to a statement from the church quoted by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Зниклі у Криму священики УГКЦ знайшлися http://t.co/z5FcRHewVm
— Радіо Свобода (@radiosvoboda) March 16, 2014
21:55
16.3.2014
Ukraine's Paralympic team leaves Sochi with a message of Peace.
Українську спортсменку Людмилу Павленко намагались не пустити на закриття Параолімпіади у Сочі з прапором #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/Dam3hqCFoN
— Hromadske.TV (@HromadskeTV) March 16, 2014
22:00
16.3.2014
With the vote count apparently headed toward a huge margin of victory for Crimean secession from Ukraine to join Russia and Western governments preparing for tough decisions on specific responses, we will end our live blogging for March 16.
10:03
17.3.2014
News agencies report that authorities in Crimea have declared the republic's independence from Ukraine and formally applied to join the Russian Federation.