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                       Crimea is Preparing for Referendum

   The chief of Crimea`s election commission, Myhkailo Malyshev, said
   Monday he is moving ahead with preparations for next Sunday`s
   referendum on unification with Russia. He said all registered Crimean
   voters are eligible to vote.
   "All citizens who are registered in the territory of the Autonomous
   Republic of Crimea have the right to vote at this referendum, meaning
   that nothing will prevent them from voting."
   Russian forces have tightened their grip on Crimea, as authorities in
   the breakaway territory push their plan to join Moscow.
   Ukraine`s interim prime minister vowed Sunday not to give up "a single
   centimeter" of territory. Arseniy Yatsenyuk addressed supporters who
   rallied in Kyiv to celebrate the 200th birthday of Ukrainian poet and
   national hero Taras Shevchenko.
   Mr. Yatsenyuk is to meet Wednesday with U.S. President Barack Obama in
   Washington to discuss the standoff over Crimea, a strategic peninsula
   in southern Ukraine with a Russian-speaking majority.
   A Russian lawmaker said the Kremlin had set aside $1.1 billion to
   rebuild Crimea`s industrial infrastructure if the disputed region votes
   in a March 16 referendum to join Russia.
   German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin
   in a phone call Sunday the planned referendum is illegal and violates
   Ukraine`s constitution.
   Mr. Putin defended the separatist drive in Crimea as consistent with
   international law, and a regional leader said Ukrainian troops
   remaining there should leave the territory unless they renounce their
   loyalty to Kyiv.
   U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken says Washington will
   not recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia if residents of the
   region vote to leave Ukraine.
   Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told VOA the annexation
   will "isolate Russia from the rest of the world for years to come,
   maybe even decades to come." He said "Even the Chinese are not
   supporting Russia in this act - nobody thinks this act is legitimate."
   Russian forces tightened their grip on the peninsula taking over a
   Ukrainian border post on the western edge of Crimea, trapping about 30
   personnel inside. A Ukrainian military spokesman said Russian forces
   now control 11 border guard posts across the territory.
   As demonstrators staged rival rallies in Crimea and throughout Ukraine,
   street violence flared in Sevastopol when pro-Russian activists and
   Cossacks attacked a group of Ukrainians.
   In the ethnic Russian eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the Kyiv Post
   says 7,000 demonstrators in Lenin Square tore down a Ukrainian flag,
   replacing it with the Russian tricolor ensign and chanting "Putin our
   president" and "referendum."
   In Kyiv, former imprisoned Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky implored
   a pro-Western crowd to believe that not all Russians support Moscow`s
   recent actions in Ukraine.
   Russia denies it has troops on the peninsula beyond those regularly
   stationed with its Sevastopol-based Black Sea fleet. Ukraine`s much
   smaller navy is also based in the Crimean port city.
   Witnesses say although the soldiers have no insignia identifying them,
   they are clearly Russian.
   Foreign observers have failed to get into Crimea to get a first-hand
   look at the situation and were forced to turn back Saturday after
   pro-Kremlin gunmen fired warning shots.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/crimea-is-preparing-for-referendum/18
   67763.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/crimea-is-preparing-for-referendum/1867763.html