Crimea casts its vote in ‘new era’

Ukraine held military drills north of Kiev as Crimea prepares for a secession referendum on Sunday. Russia is already conducting its own military drills near the Ukraine border. Via The Foreign Bureau, WSJ's global new update.

Deadly violence... Ukrainian police outside the headquarters of far-right group 'Patrioty Ukrainy' in eastern Kharkiv. Gunfire from the headquarters led to two deaths. Picture: Sergey Bobok/AFP Source: AFP

PEOPLE in Crimea have taken to the polls for a referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia that has precipitated a Cold War-style security crisis on Europe's eastern frontier.

Ukraine's new government and most of the international community except Russia have said they will not recognise a result expected to be overwhelmingly in favour of immediate secession.

"Now, on the territory of the autonomous republic of Crimea under the stage direction of the Russian Federation, a circus performance is underway: the so-called referendum,'' Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a government meeting.

"Also taking part in the performance are 21,000 Russian troops, who with their guns are trying to prove the legality of the referendum.''

Russia raised the stakes Saturday when its forces, backed by helicopter gunships and armored vehicles, took control of a Ukrainian village outside Crimea - the first military move beyond the peninsula of two million people. The Russian forces also took control of a nearby natural gas distribution station, claiming the need to prevent possible terrorist acts.

"This is an historic moment, everyone will live happily," Sergiy Aksyonov, the local pro-Moscow prime minister, told reporters on Sunday after casting his ballot in the regional capital Simferopol.

"This is a new era," he said, after a man waving a Ukrainian flag was pushed away by security guards.

A child casts her mother's ballot while holding a Russian flag at a polling station in Simferopol. Picture:Viktor Drachev Source: AFP

"We will celebrate this evening," Aksyonov said.

Some 1.5 million people are called to vote on the Black Sea peninsula, which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Russians and has been seized by Russian forces over the past month.

Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov called on Crimeans to boycott the ballot, accusing Russia of engineering it as part of an invasion plan.

"The result has been pre-planned by the Kremlin as a formal justification to send in its troops and start a war that will destroy people's lives and the economic prospects for Crimea," he said.

AFP reporters saw voters cast their ballots in Simferopol and the naval base of Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea fleet.

Defending their corner ... a pro-Ukrainian demonstrator attends a rally in Simferopol, Ukraine. Source: AP

"Everything will be easier. I'm only for Russia," said Russian-born Raisa, a 77-year-old woman with a walking stick who was among the first to vote in Simferopol.

In Bakhchysaray - the centre of Crimea's native Muslim Tatar community, which is urging a boycott of the referendum - only ethnic Russians were seen coming to vote.

"We have waited years for this moment," said 71-year-old Ivan Konstantinovich, who raised his hands in victory after voting in the town.

"Everyone will vote for Russia," he said.

RUSSIA 'CAPTURES US DRONE' IN CRIMEA

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UKRAINE IN A STATE OF WAR

Crimea says foreign observers are monitoring the vote but the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is not. This is because it needs to be invited by a member state.

OSCE military observers aiming to defuse tensions have been prevented from entering Crimea, which is at the centre of the worst East-West confrontation since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

If the referendum passes, Russia faces the prospect of quick sanctions from Western nations. So far, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin has vigorously resisted calls to pull back in Crimea. At the United Nations, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution declaring the referendum illegal, and China, its ally, abstained in a sign of Moscow's isolation on the issue.

Tensions high ... pro-Russian demonstrators gather at a rally in Lenin Square, Simferopol. Source: AP

Voters can choose to become part of Russia or retain more autonomy but stay in Ukraine - a vote for the status quo is not an option.

Preliminary results were expected soon after polls close at 8pm and Russian flags were already being handed out in the streets in Sevastopol.

Speakers blared the city anthem up and down the streets, giving Sevastopol a feeling of a block party. But the military threat was clear - a Russian naval warship still blocked the port's outlet to the Black Sea, trapping Ukrainian boats. Under a disputed new lease, Russia pays Ukraine $98 million a year in rent for the naval base.

At a polling station inside a historic school building in Sevastopol, Vladimir Lozovoy, a 75-year-old retired Soviet naval officer, began tearing up as he talked about his vote.

"I want to cry. I have finally returned to my motherland. It is an incredible feeling. This is the thing I have been waiting for for 23 years,'' he said.

Since Yanukovych fled to Russia, Crimea has come under the control of local militias as well as heavily armed troops under the apparent command from Moscow. Crimea's pro-Russia authorities say if Ukrainian soldiers resolutely occupying their garrisons on the peninsula don't surrender after Sunday's vote, they will be considered "illegal".

Watching ... A Ukrainian policeman supervises activity in a voting station in Perevalne, Ukraine. Picture: AP Source: AP

But Ukraine's acting defense minister, Igor Tenyuk, remained defiant and Crimea's large Tatar Muslim minority still fiercely opposes any annexation to Russia.

"This is our land and we're not going anywhere from this land,'' Tenyuk said Sunday in an interview published by the Interfax news agency.

The Crimea referendum "is a clown show, a circus,'' Tatar activist Refat Chubarov said on Crimea's Tatar television station Sunday. "This is a tragedy, an illegitimate government with armed forces from another country.''

Blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags were nowhere to seen around the streets of the regional capital of Simferopol but Red, white and blue Russian and Crimean flags fluttered in abundance.

Ethnic Ukrainians interviewed outside the Ukrainian Orthodox cathedral of Vladimir and Olga said they refused to take part in the referendum, calling it an illegal charade stage-managed by Moscow. Some said they were scared of the potential for ethnic cleansing in the coming weeks, like what happened in parts nearby Georgia, another former Soviet republic.

"We're just not going to play these separatist games,'' said Yevgen Sukhodolsky, a 41-year-old prosecutor from Saki, a town outside Simferopol. "Putin is the fascist. The Russian government is fascist.''

Vasyl Ovcharuk, a retired gas pipe layer who also worked on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, predicted dark days ahead for Crimea.

"This will end up in military action, in which peaceful people will suffer. And that means everybody. Shells and bullets are blind,'' he said.

Crimea... A Russian flag floats in the wind as a Russian Navy ship remains stationed in the harbour of Sevastopol, Crimea. Picture: Viktor Drachev/AFP Source: AFP

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