Putin completes annexation of Crimea

3/21/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Crimea-3

    A child gives fruit to a Ukrainian officer at the Ukrainian Military Prosecutor's Office in Simferopol, Crimea, Thursday, March 20, 2014. The lower house of Russian parliament voted Thursday to make Crimea a part of Russia following Sunday’s Crimean referendum in which its residents overwhelmingly backed breaking off from Ukraine and joining Russia. (AP Photo/Maxin Vetrov)

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    • MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin has signed bills making Crimea part of Russia, completing the annexation from Ukraine.

    Putin hailed the incorporation of Crimea into Russia as a “remarkable event” before he signed the bills into law in the Kremlin today.

    Russia rushed the annexation of the strategic Black Sea peninsula after Sunday’s hastily called referendum, in which its residents overwhelmingly backed breaking off from Ukraine and joining Russia. Ukraine and the West have rejected the vote, held two weeks after Russian troops had taken over Crimea.

    The U.S. and the European Union have responded by slapping sanctions on Russia.