Alison angel 8

Putin hailed the ballot in an address to a joint session of Parliament Tuesday, saying the nearly 97% of its residents who voted to join Russia was "an extremely convincing figure."In an hour-long speech, he argued that the vote had been entirely legitimate and stressed the historical and cultural ties between Russia and Crimea."In our hearts we know Crimea has always been an inalienable part of Russia," he said.Crimea is an autonomous region within Ukraine with a majority Russian-speaking population. It has its own parliament, but the Ukrainian government had veto power over its actions.With political instability and demonstrations rocking Ukraine in the past several months, President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed out of office and observers charged that Russia saw its chance to annex the strategic territory. The hastily called referendum Sunday resulted in 96.7% of the region's voters saying they wanted to become part of Russia, according to the Crimean Electoral Commission.