| Unexpectedly. |
[An Nahar] Crimea's regional assembly on Monday declared independence from Ukraine and applied to join Russia, saying all Ukrainian state property on the peninsula would be nationalized.Later on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
signed a decree formally recognizing Crimea as an independent state following its vote to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.
The Kremlin's official website quoted Putin's decree as recognizing "the Republic of Crimea... as a sovereign and independent state."
It was issued "considering the expression of the will of the people of Crimea at the general Crimean referendum" on Sunday, it said.
The decree added that it entered into force from the moment of its signature and included the time stamp of 10:30 pm (1830 GMT).
Putin is due on Tuesday to address both houses of parliament about the crisis following the announcement of targeted U.S. and EU sanctions against top Russians and Ukrainians deemed responsible for the breakaway vote, as well as pro-Kremlin forces' effective seizure of the Black Sea peninsula at the start of the month.
Earlier, a decree approved by Crimea's assembly said "the republic of Crimea appeals to the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
and to all countries of the world to recognize it as an independent state."
"The Republic of Crimea... applies to the Russian Federation to accept the Republic of Crimea as a member of the Russian Federation," it said.
Crimea's local prime minister Sergiy Aksyonov also tweeted that starting on March 30, the region would switch to Moscow time (GMT +4), two hours ahead of the current time in Crimea.
The document was approved by all 85 deputies present in the 100-seat assembly, after a disputed referendum on Sunday in which Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.
"The Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea... declares Crimea an independent sovereign state -- the Republic of Crimea," the document said.
It said that from Monday, Ukrainian laws would no longer apply in Crimea and decisions taken by the Ukrainian state since the ouster of Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych last month had no authority.
"The activities of state institutions of Ukraine on the territory of Crimea are finished and their powers, their property and their budgets are transferred to the state organs of the Republic of Crimea," it said.
"All establishments, businesses and other organizations of Ukraine or with Ukrainian participation on the territory of Crimea will belong to Crimea," it added.
It was unclear if this would also include Ukrainian military bases.
Aksyonov also said in a tweet that 500 Ukrainian soldiers had left their posts in Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea fleet.
Earlier on Monday, he said that 96.6 percent of voters casting ballots in a weekend poll chose to break off from Ukraine and join Russia.