Simferopol, March 17 (RHC-Agencies) -- The Crimean parliament Monday declared independence from Ukraine, after latest official results show an overwhelming 96.77 percent of Crimean voters chose to join Russia in Sunday's referendum.

The legislature passed an independence declaration during an extraordinary session, proclaiming the Black Sea peninsula an independent sovereign state, the Republic of Crimea.

the declaration stated, "The Republic of Crimea intends to build its relations with other states on the basis of equality, peace, good neighborliness and other universally recognized principles of political, economic and cultural cooperation,"

Crimea's Supreme Council also formally sent application to the Kremlin for joining the Russian Federation as a new republic.

Crimeans in Simferopol and Sevastopol celebrated the outcome of the referendum late Sunday night and early into Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in separate phone calls with Obama early Monday and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, said the Crimea referendum did not breach international law and was totally legal.

A note posted on the Kremlin website read: "Putin said the Crimean population's vote is in full compliance with international law, in particular with Article 1 of the UN Charter that stipulates the principle of equality and self-determination of peoples,"

"Russia will respect the choice of Crimean residents," Putin said.

Moscow on Saturday vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution, calling on international organizations to ignore results of Sunday's voting in Crimea.