TODAY: Over 95% of Crimeans vote to join Russia; West condemns illegal vote, draws up sanctions; Russia vetoes U.N. Security Resolution on referendum; China stays neutral; Paralympics end; Kiselyov vaguely threatens U.S.; RWE to sell subsidiary to oligarchs.

Despite some boycotts, exit polls with 50% of votes counted showed that 95.7% of Crimeans voted for union with Russia yesterday at the widely criticised referendum, with an estimated turnout of 83%.  Both Europe and the U.S. say the referendum was illegal and are threatening sanctions; Putin says it complies with international laws and should be accepted.  Russia used its veto to block a U.N. Security Council resolution declaring the referendum invalid.  China does not agree with putting sanctions on Moscow, and has not commented on the referendum, although it is calling for calm in Ukraine.  The E.U. has drawn up an initial list – to be cut down – of 120 officials in Crimea and Russia to blacklist.  Many Crimeans who still remember when their territory was given to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954 say the referendum means they are finally ‘going home’; amongst Crimean Tartars, however, the move to Russia is not a popular one.  Prior to the vote, Russian forces allegedly seized a natural gas terminal just outside the border of Crimea.  Russian and Ukrainian sources are blaming each other’s governments for provoking a gunfight in Kharkiv last week.  Former British Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown says the Ukrainian crisis is a cover for a power grab in the Balkans, threatening the imminent break-up of Bosnia.

TODAY: Over 95% of Crimeans vote to join Russia; West condemns illegal vote, draws up sanctions; Russia vetoes U.N. Security Resolution on referendum; China stays neutral; Paralympics end; Kiselyov vaguely threatens U.S.; RWE to sell subsidiary to oligarchs.

Despite some boycotts, exit polls with 50% of votes counted showed that 95.7% of Crimeans voted for union with Russia yesterday at the widely criticised referendum, with an estimated turnout of 83%.  Both Europe and the U.S. say the referendum was illegal and are threatening sanctions; Putin says it complies with international laws and should be accepted.  Russia used its veto to block a U.N. Security Council resolution declaring the referendum invalid.  China does not agree with putting sanctions on Moscow, and has not commented on the referendum, although it is calling for calm in Ukraine.  The E.U. has drawn up an initial list – to be cut down – of 120 officials in Crimea and Russia to blacklist.  Many Crimeans who still remember when their territory was given to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954 say the referendum means they are finally ‘going home’; amongst Crimean Tartars, however, the move to Russia is not a popular one.  Prior to the vote, Russian forces allegedly seized a natural gas terminal just outside the border of Crimea.  Russian and Ukrainian sources are blaming each other’s governments for provoking a gunfight in Kharkiv last week.  Former British Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown says the Ukrainian crisis is a cover for a power grab in the Balkans, threatening the imminent break-up of Bosnia.