The Russian Government insisted that the forces did not include Russian troops, but only local self-defence groups. As Russia refused to recognize the new Government of Ukraine, but instead recognized the legitimacy of former President Victor Yanukovych, his request for intervention was taken into consideration by the Russian authorities. 19. On 27 February 2014, in a contested situation including the presence of armed persons around its building, the Parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea dismissed the former local government and appointed Mr Sergey Aksyonov as “prime minister”. The same day, it also decided to hold a referendum on 25 May 2014, on the future status of Crimea. The Ukrainian Central Electoral Committee declared this decision as contrary to the Ukrainian Constitution. On 14 March the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled that the decision to hold a referendum was unconstitutional. On 15 March the Ukrainian Parliament terminated the powers of the Verkhovna Rada. The date of the referendum was brought forward first to 30 March, and finally to 16 March. At the referendum, voters were asked to choose between two options: firstly, “Do you support the reunification of Crimea with Russia with all the rights of the subject of the Russian Federation?”; or, secondly, “Do you support the restoration of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Crimea and the status of the Crimea as part of Ukraine?”. On 11 March, the Supreme Council of Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine. 20. On 1 March, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation (upper chamber of the Russian Parliament) approved a request from President Vladimir Putin permitting the usage of Russian armed forces to protect the Russian speaking population. According to reports, the Russian Federation also started boosting its military presence in Crimea. Unidentified armed men, without military insignias, took control of the administrative border between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine and blocked several Ukrainian military bases. Ukrainian Authorities alleged that the armed men were Russian armed forces and/or allied local paramilitary groups. The Russian Government justified its involvement to be in response to the will of the local population and as an effort to protect ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in the region. 21. On 5 March 2014, the Shevchenko district court of Kyiv issued arrest warrants for Mr. Sergey Aksyonov and the Chair of the Supreme Council (Crimean Parliament), Vladimir Konstantinov. The Security Service of Ukraine was requested to bring them to court. Ukraine’s new Government also warned the Crimean Parliament that it faced dissolution unless it cancelled the referendum. In response, the authorities in Crimea stated that the new Government in Kyiv came to power illegitimately through a coup d’état. On 11 March, they also closed the airspace over Crimea for flights from the rest of Ukraine. On 15 March, the Ukrainian Parliament took the decision to dissolve the Supreme Council of Crimea. 22. On 16 March, the Supreme Council of Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine, and held a referendum on whether Crimea should join the Russian Federation or remain part of Ukraine with the degree of autonomy it had in 1992. The referendum resulted in a reported turnout of over 81%, where based on reports over 96% of voters supported Crimea joining the Russian Federation. However, the OHCHR delegation received many reports of vote rigging. Ukraine refused to recognize the results of the Crimean referendum, claiming that it was in violation of its Constitution. 23. On 27 March, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 68/262 upholding the territorial integrity of Ukraine and underscored that the referendum held on 16 March 2014 had no validity. In addition, the resolution’s operative paragraph 4 welcomed the UN and OSCE assistance to Ukraine in protecting the rights of all persons, including minorities. 7|Page