Crimean Parliament Asks To Join Russia As EU Leaders Meet
Lawmakers said they would put the question to a referendum on March 16 as Russian forces maintained their grip on the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
Via AFP:
Ukraine stood in danger of breaking apart Thursday after Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia, triggering Kiev's fury and firming the threat of harsh sanctions on Moscow by the European Union.
Europe's worst security crisis in the post-Cold War era escalated when lawmakers on the predominantly Russian-speaking Black Sea peninsula of two million set a March 16 regional "referendum" on switching to Kremlin rule.
Ukraine's untested team of Western-backed interim leaders joined Washington and the European Union in denouncing the decision as illegitimate and a provocation that only stok...