On Monday, March 17, Kiev officially recalled its ambassador from Moscow for consultations on its breakaway region of Crimea, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

      Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko was recalled to discuss “certain international aspects” of Sunday’s referendum in Crimea, in which 96.7 percent of voters in the southern Ukrainian region had backed reunification with Russia after 60 years as part of Ukraine.

      Russia officially recognized Crimea as an independent state on Monday evening. The formal accession request now should be considered and approved by the Russian parliament. Then it must be approved by the Constitutional Court, which, in its turn, would forward it to the parliament for ratification.

      Ukrainian officials now tend to break off all diplomatic and economic relations with Russia. They also call European and US authorities to introduce sanctions against Russian officials.

      The referendum in Crimea, the autonomous republic within Ukraine, which was held on Sunday amid an ongoing political crisis in the country, is at the center of the most serious geopolitical showdown between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.