Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd R), Crimea’s Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov (front L), Crimean parliamentary speaker Vladimir Konstantinov (back L) and Sevastopol Mayor Alexei Chaliy shake hands after a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow March 18, 2014. Putin and two Crimean leaders signed a treaty on Tuesday on making the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula a part of Russia. The signing in the Kremlin came two days after Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum condemned by the Ukrainian government, the United States and the European Union as illegitimate. REUTERS/Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool (RUSSIA – Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
