article_snippet: A referendum was held on March 16, 2014 -- a year ago to the day -- on secession from Ukraine.
article_snippet: The vast majority of people who voted in the referendum approved secession from Ukraine.
article_snippet: But the vote, staged while armed men controlled the region, was dismissed as illegal by Ukraine's then-interim government in Kiev, the European Union and the United States.
article_snippet: This not only includes Crimea but also now in our daily work the areas around Luhansk and Donetsk.
article_snippet: Unrest broke out in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions following Russia's absorbing of Crimea.
article_snippet: A fragile truce is currently in place but the conflict between pro-Russia separatists and Ukrainian forces there has claimed thousands of lives.