Russia would welcome Crimea as 'absolutely equal,' top lawmaker says

March 7, 2014: Crimea's prime minister Sergei Aksyonov, center, enters a hall prior the talks in Russian Parliament in Moscow, Russia. Valentina Matvienko, speaker for Russia's upper house of parliament says Crimea would be welcome as an 'equal subject' in Russia if the region votes to leave Ukraine in an upcoming referendum. Russia's parliament is planning to review a bill as early as next week that would speed up Crimea's integration into Russia. Crimea would be the first territory to officially join Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. (AP/Alexander Shalgin)

MOSCOW – Russia rallied support Friday for a Crimean bid to secede from Ukraine, with Russia's top lawmaker assuring her Crimean counterpart that the region would be welcomed as "an absolutely equal subject of the Russian Federation." Across Red Square, 65,000 people waved Russian flags, chanting "Crimea is Russia!"

The strategic peninsula in southern Ukraine has become the flashpoint in the battle for Ukraine, where three months of protests sent President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing to Russia. Russia calls the new Ukrainian government illegitimate, and has seized control of Crimea, where it has a major naval base on the Black Sea.

Crimea's parliament has called a March 16 referendum on whether the semi-autonomous region should join Russia outright, a move President Barack Obama has called a violation of international law.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia has no intention of annexing Crimea, but Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, made clear that the country would welcome Crimea if it votes in the referendum to join its giant neighbor. About 60 percent of Crimea's population identifies itself as Russian.

"If the decision is made, then (Crimea) will become an absolutely equal subject of the Russian Federation," Matvienko said during a visit from the chairman of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov. She spoke of mistreatment of Russian-speaking residents in Ukraine's east and south, which has been Russia's primary argument for possible intervention in Ukraine.

The Russian parliament is scrambling to make it easier for Crimea to join Russia. Russia's constitution lets the country annex territory only by an agreement "initiated... by the given foreign government." That would entail signing an agreement with the new authorities in Kiev, whom Moscow doesn't recognize.

New legislation would sidestep that requirement, according to members of parliament, who said a new bill could be passed as soon as next week.

Near the parliament building, 65,000 people gathered at a Kremlin-organized rally in support of Crimea.

"We always knew that Russia would not abandon us," Konstantinov shouted from the stage. He also called on Moscow not to forget other Russia-leaning regions in Ukraine.

"We must not leave the Ukrainian people at the mercy of those Nazi bandits," he said, referring to the new government in Kiev.

The referendum will be conducted with what Crimean authorities have said are more than 11,000 pro-Russian forces in the region. The troops control all access to the peninsula and have blockaded all Ukrainian military bases that have not yet surrendered.

Russia has denied that its forces are active in Crimea, describing the troops who wear green uniforms without insignia as local "self-defense forces." But many of the troops, who are armed with advanced heavy weaponry, are being transported by vehicles with Russian license plates.

Hoping to pressure Russia to roll back its military presence, the United States imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on Russians and other opponents of the new Kiev government on Thursday. The European Union suspended talks with Russia on a wide-ranging economic agreement and on granting Russian citizens visa-free travel to the 28-nation bloc, a long-standing Russian objective.

Russia belittled the moves, with Vladimir Chizhov ,the Russian ambassador to the EU, telling Russian news agencies: "If someone thinks that they can scare us with such horror stories, then they are deeply mistaken."

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian delegation to the Paralympics said it would participate in Friday night's opening ceremony in the Russian resort of Sochi, but warned it could pull out of the 10-day event if Russia makes more military moves.

"I don't remember a situation when the organizing country during a Paralympics started an intervention on the territory of a country taking part," said Valeriy Sushkevich, president of the National Paralympic Committee ofUkraine, in comments reported by the R-Sport agency. He said if the crisis were to escalate, "we cannot possibly stay here."

Sushkevich said he met with Putin on Thursday night to request peace during the games, and that Putin listened but made no guarantees.

Crimea would be the first territory to join Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which broke away from Georgia after a brief 2008 war with Russia, have been recognized as independent by Moscow, but there have been few serious moves to enable them to join Russia.

For Putin, Crimea would be a dazzling acquisition, and would help cement his authority with a Russian citizenry that has in recent years shown signs of restiveness and still resents the loss of the sprawling empire Moscow ruled in Soviet times.

In the Crimean capital, Simferopol, 75 people turned out Friday for a rally at the local monument to 19th-century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. They spoke both Ukrainian and Russian, but waved Ukrainian flags and released white doves into the rainy sky.

One of those at the protest was native Russian speaker Anton Romanov, who said he opposes the occupation of Crimea by Russian troops.

"I'm against being forced to live in a different country," he said.