Crimean parliament adopts new constitution

KIEV - The Crimean parliament on Friday voted unanimously in favor of adopting a new constitution that proclaims the Black Sea peninsula a legal and democratic state within the Russian Federation.

Approved by 88 Crimean lawmakers, the constitution, consisting of 10 chapters and 95 articles, envisages that Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean-Tatar languages would be all granted the status of official languages.

Two government branches were created by the new constitution: a legislative branch, represented by the State Council, and an executive branch, represented by the Ministers' Council.

According to the document, the Head of the Republic would be the highest official in Crimea. Once endorsed the State Council, the head will be charged with running the republic for 5 years.

On March 17, the Crimean parliament declared independence from Ukraine, after official results from a peninsula-wide referendum showed 96.77 percent of Crimean voters favoring joining Russia.

One day after, Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of Crimea signed a treaty accepting the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as part of Russian territory.

Kiev has rejected the referendum and Crimea's integration into Russia, saying it was unconstitutional.