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Crimea and Sevastopol

Ten thousand gather in Vladikavkaz to voice support for Crimea’s population

VLADIKAVKAZ, March 14, /ITAR-TASS/. More than 10,000 people representing various public organisations, political parties, government institutions and higher educational establishments as well as the Terek Cossacks gathered in Vladikavkaz on Friday to voice their support for the people of Crimea, the press service of the Russian Interior Ministry branch for North Ossetia said.

A 100-member delegation from South Ossetia joined the action initiated by deputies of North Ossetian parliament and the Vladikavkaz City Assembly.

Two 20-tonne trucks with relief cargo, which the people of North Ossetia had collected for the people of Crimea, were sent off to Crimean capital Simferopol straight from the rally.

The action passed peacefully without any serious violations of public order.

In the meantime, opponents of Ukraine’s interim authorities on Friday decorated the famous Potemkin Staris, a giant stairway in Odessa, with a huge flag of Crimea, the Banner of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and the flag of the city of Odessa as they demanded holding referendums on decentralization of power in Ukraine, the state status of the Russian language and the country’s foreign policy course.

Hundreds of Odessa residents who gathered for a demonstration in the city center chanted, “Referendum!”, criticizing the “Maidan representatives” who had risen to power in Kiev in their speeches.

Activists of non-governmental organizations in Odessa have set up a tent camp on the city’s central Kulikovo Square to collect signatures for organising a plebiscite.

They are planning to hold a multi-thousand march against the interim Ukrainian authorities on Sunday, March 16, when the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is going to vote in a referendum on its future status.

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Foreign policy Referendum in Crimea

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