Early results show Crimea to join Russia

Perevalnoye-Ukraine (Mar 17 ) Preliminary results in Sunday's referendum on whether Ukraine's Crimea region should join Russia or become an independent state show overwhelming support for Russia.

With 50% percent of the ballots counted, more than 95% of voters want to become part of that country, according to Crimean Electoral Commission head Mikhail Malyshev. He'd announced earlier that more than 80% of voters had cast ballots by the time polls closed at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) Sunday.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing exit polls, reported that some 93% of people had voted to join Russia.

Final results are expected later.

"We are going home. Crimea is in Russia," Crimea's Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov told crowds celebrating in Simferopol's Lenin Square. Music blared as they cheered and waved Russian flags.

The United States has already said it expects the Black Sea peninsula's majority ethnic Russian population to vote in favor of joining Russia. Moscow has strongly backed the referendum.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Sunday, according to a readout from the White House.

"President Obama emphasized that the Crimean 'referendum,' which violates the Ukrainian constitution and occurred under duress of Russian military intervention, would never be recognized by the United States and the international community," it said. "He emphasized that Russia's actions were in violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and that, in coordination with our European partners, we are prepared to impose additional costs on Russia for its actions."

Earlier, the White House released a statement that said the vote was "administered under threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention that violates international law."

The voting has put the United States and Russia on the kind of collision course not seen since the end of the Cold War. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reaffirmed in a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday that the United States considered the referendum illegal under Ukrainian law and that the United States would not recognize the outcome.

The European Union on Sunday repeated its "strong condemnation" of the referendum and called on Russia to withdraw its troops from the region. It, too, has called the referendum illegal and said it is looking at sanctions.

Lavrov said in a statement Saturday that Crimea's referendum conforms to international law.

European nations and the United States have announced some targeted punishments against Russia and have threatened tougher sanctions if the secession vote goes through.

Kicking off the polling in a prerecorded statement, Crimea's Prime Minister called on the residents of Crimea to cast their vote "independent of nationalism and disintegration."

Aksyonov acknowledged that the "eyes of the entire world are on us today" and asked Crimeans to show their aspiration to "live free in the world with friendly relations with all."

At a polling station in Perevalnoye, near a military base, a steady stream of voters arrived to cast their ballots despite the wintry weather.

Blaring dance tunes and Russian folk music welcomed them to the polling station, in an echo of Soviet times. What appeared to be a group of Russian soldiers -- without identifying insignia but with Russian license plates on their vehicles -- stood nearby.

Svetlana Kalisetskaya, head of the electoral commission there, told CNN that "compared to other elections, it is much livelier and friendlier."

One voter, Grigory Illarionovich, told CNN, "I'm for restoring Crimea to Russia. Returning what Khrushchev took away."

The Black Sea peninsula was part of Russia until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954. Ukraine was then part of the Soviet Union.

'Russia is an opportunity'

Another voter in Perevalnoye, Viktor Savchenko, said he would never vote for the government in Kiev. "I want us to join Russia, and live like Russians, with all their rights," he said.

Victoria Khudyakova said she also had voted to join Russia, which she sees as being "spiritually close" to Crimea. "For me, Russia is an opportunity for our Crimea to develop, to bloom. And I believe that it will be so," she said.

But Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, speaking in Kiev, dismissed the referendum as illegitimate under Ukrainian and international law and improperly run.

He said Ukrainian authorities had information from Crimea about voting irregularities, including people who are not Crimean citizens casting ballots, the absence of proper monitoring and the presence of armed men.

Malyshev, the head of the Crimean Election Commission, said there was no information that people with foreign passports were voting in the referendum. He also said no "provocations" had been reported at polling stations.

Double voting?

In Simferopol, voters filed into a polling place, picked up white and yellow ballots and headed to private booths to fill them out before dropping them through the slits of clear ballot boxes.

In another polling station, the vast majority of ballots dropped in the boxes appeared to be marked in favor of joining Russia.

Some 80% of voters turning out at a polling station in Bakhchysaray were not on the electoral roll, the registrar told CNN. Those not on the roll have their passports and papers checked to establish identity. On the spot, election staff decide, with a show of hands, whether to allow those voters to participate.

Source:  click2Houston