Putin Clears Crimea Annexation as Ukraine Signs EU Pact

Russia completed its annexation of Crimea as the European Union signed an accord with Ukraine and expanded sanctions, escalating the worst standoff between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

President Vladimir Putin signed legislation in Moscow to absorb the Black Sea peninsula and its port, Sevastopol, from Ukraine. In Brussels, the EU and Ukraine sealed the political part of an association agreement, whose rejection last year by ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych triggered the dispute between Russia and its former Soviet-era enemies. The 28-nation bloc also blacklisted 12 Russian and Crimean political and military figures.