Ukraine Recalls Ambassador From Moscow

Ambassador Volodymyr YelchenkoKiev recalled its ambassador to Moscow on Monday for consultations on its breakaway region of Crimea, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, ria.ru reports.

Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko was recalled to discuss “certain international aspects” of Sunday’s popular vote, 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 recognized Crimea as an independent state on Monday evening.

The referendum in 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.