6 Mar 2014 15:38

Crimea open to authorized OSCE monitors - Vice-Premier Temirgaliyev

SIMFEROPOL. March 6 (Interfax) - The Crimean authorities have no objections to the presence of OSCE monitors at the Crimean referendum, Crimean First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev said.

"We are open and we welcome all international observers who are issued relevant mandates," he told a press briefing in Simferopol on Thursday.

Earlier reports said a group of unarmed military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was on its way to Crimea from Odesa.

The Crimean parliament approved Crimea's accession to the Russian Federation as its constituent on Thursday. March 16 was set as the new date of the all-Crimea referendum.