MOSCOW, March 23 (Reuters) - Russia said its flag is now flying over 189 Ukrainian military installations in the Crimea, the defence ministry said on Sunday, two days after President Vladimir Putin signed laws completing Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.

"The flag of the Russian Federation has been raised at 189 military units and institutions of the Ukrainian armed forces stationed on the territory of the Republic of Crimea," the ministry said in a statement, cited by news agency RIA. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel)