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MOSCOW, March 20, /ITAR-TASS/. Russian lawmakers will meet at an extraordinary session on Thursday to consider the presidential package of bills on Crimea's reunification with Russia. The documents under review are an inter-state treaty and a constitutional bill on the creation of two new constituent members of the Russian Federation. On Tuesday, the Russian Parliament's committee on CIS affairs unanimously recommended to ratify "the Crimean treaty," signed in the Kremlin on March 18, while the house committee on constitutional legislation and state development recommended to approve all the readings of the bill on Crimea and Sevastopol's joining Russia. The treaty...

MOSCOW, March 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The State Duma, upper house of Russian Parliament, will convene for an extraordinary session on Thursday, March 20, to ratify the re-unification treaty with Crimea, First Deputy Duma Speaker Ivan Melnikov said. “There is the judgment of the Constitutional Court (which recognized the treaty as conforming to the Russian Constitution),” Melnikov told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday, March 19. “In this connection, the State Duma today will debate the draft resolution on holding an unscheduled plenary meeting at 16:00 tomorrow, March 20, to discuss the ratification of the treaty and the adoption of a constitutional law on the...

ST. PETERSBURG, March 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Constitutional Court has said the Treaty on Crimea’s Accession to Russia corresponds to the Russian Constitution. March 18, 16:06 Russia Agreement between Russia and Republic of Crimea signed “The Constitutional Court recognizes that the Treaty corresponds to the Russian Constitution,” the Constitutional Court chairman, Valery Zorkin, said on Wednesday. On Tuesday, March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the draft treaty on Crimea's reunification with Russia and the formation of new sub-federal entities as part of the Russian Federation. He also notified both chambers of the Russian Parliament on the proposals by Crimea's Supreme...

MOSCOW, March 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Sunday’s referendum in Crimea, in which the voters expressed their will on the future of their region, is a historic moment for Russia, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview with the Moscow-based Channel One television channel. He called for awaiting the final results of the referendum first, yet he underlined the fact Russia had mostly been losing people in previous years. “And here at last we’re getting our compatriots back,” Naryshkin said. “So that’s a historic moment for Russia.” “The figures produced by the referendum speak for themselves, just look at the voters’...

MOSCOW, March 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Leader of the A Just Russia Party Sergei Mironov told Channel One on Sunday the State Duma, lower house of Russia’s parliament, will quickly approve all laws on Crimea’s accession to Russia. “We’ll approve all laws as soon as reasonably possible,” Mironov said. “All will happen strictly and quickly. Our Crimean brothers should not doubt,” he said.