Russian Putin signed a decree on Monday recognising Ukraine's Crimea region as a sovereign state

[Reuters] President Vladimir Putin of Russia has sign a decree on Monday recognising Ukraine's Crimea region as a sovereign state, Russian news agencies cited the Kremlin press service as saying.

Crimean vote to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum that has fanned the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. The Kremlin’s official website quoted Putin’s decree as recognising “the Republic of Crimea… as a sovereign and independent state.”

It was issued “considering the expression of the will of the people of Crimea at the general Crimean referendum” on Sunday, it said.