Russian President Vladimir Putin started a joint session of parliament on Crimea with the words "a round of applause" for Crimea and the audience responded with a standing ovation.
Putin called Crimea's vote this weekend to secede "extremely convincing" adding "in our hearts we know Crimea has always been an inalienable part of Russia,"
His speech was regularly interrupted by applause from an audience which included his government, Kremlin aides, business leaders and Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov.
