普京与克里米亚领导人签署条约使克里米亚归属俄罗斯

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Crimea signed a treaty Tuesday to make the Black Sea peninsula part of Russia, just two days after it voted to secede from Ukraine in a referendum the United States and the European Union declared "illegal."

Mr. Putin signed the document with ((Sergei Askyonov,)) the prime minister of Crimea's regional government, ((Vladimir Konstantinov,)) the speaker of Crimea's parliament, and ((Aleksei Chalov,)) the mayor of the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea fleet is based.

The Kremlin said on its website that Crimea "shall be deemed accepted in the Russian Federation from the date of signing the treaty."

The treaty was signed shortly after Mr. Putin told Russia's parliament in a televised address that Crimea has always been an "inalienable" part of Russia, and a day after he signed a decree recognizing the peninsula as "a sovereign and independent country.

President Putin said Tuesday that the referendum complied with democratic and international norms.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is in Poland Tuesday for talks with regional allies concerned about Russia's military incursion into Crimea. Biden is meeting with the leaders of Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.