Crimeans braved a miserably gray and rainy day, turning out early to vote in Sunday's much-anticipated referendum whose result is all but a foregone conclusion.
Demyan Kozlov, 27, drove the short distance from his house in the Crimean capital of Simferopol to the polling station at School Number 12. After election officials checked his name against the rolls, he took his ballot behind a blue curtain, quickly checked the box that Crimea should join Russia, and dropped it in a clear plexiglas bin.
"We are coming back home after 23 years abroad so it's a great holiday for us," Kozlov said. "I was born in the Soviet Union, I am Russian, I was born on Russian territory, that's why I want to live in Russia."
That feeling seemed to be shared by most voters at the polling station -- and across Crimea -- most significantly older than Kozlov.
"Of course I voted for Russia," one woman curtly responded when asked how she cast her vote. "Who else should we vote for? For Ukraine? For war? No thank you."
Russian Supporters, Protesters Await Crimea Vote
When the referendum's results are officially released Monday -- though preliminary results could come tonight -- they are expected to show Crimeans voting overwhelmingly to join Russia.
The reason the referendum is expected to go for Russia is not just because most Crimeans are ethnic Russians, but because the minority thought to be against being annexed by Russia are boycotting the vote.
"I don't have any other motherland than Ukraine, why should I become part of Russia?" Dilya Imiradieva said at a small pro-Ukraine rally on Saturday. "Why should I live in Russia?"
The United States and Europe have accused Russia of backing an illegitimate and unconstitutional referendum in Crimea, where over the past two weeks Russian forces have seized control. But Russian and Crimean leaders argue it is simply a question of self-determination.
"I think that President Obama is a smart man who understands that it is impossible to ignore the will of the majority of the population living in [Crimea]," Crimea's new pro-Moscow Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov told ABC News. "I hope healthy reason will prevail and Americans will understand that today, Crimeans also have a right to a free choice."
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1obqDNB
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