11.   Parliament Speaker Sergei Tsekov opened the proceedings, an AFP correspondent in the Crimean capital Simferopol reported.

12.   Speaking in the Crimean capital Simferopol, Meshkov said that no decision by the Ukrainian parliament could overturn the fact that he had been elected by the Crimean people.

13.   The feud between Meshkov and the parliament, and between the Crimean capital Simferopol and Kiev, is linked to efforts to return Crimea to the sovereignty of Moscow.