VIENNA (Reuters) - Crimea's planned March 16 referendum on joining Russia is illegal in its current form and the OSCE will not send a mission to observe it, the Swiss head of Europe's security and democracy watchdog said on Monday.
Russia's RIA news agency said on Monday that Ukraine's Crimea region had invited the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send a mission to observe Sunday's plebiscite. It said the invitation had been issued to the Vienna-based security and human rights organisation by the region's pro-Russian parliament.