Crimeans vote as Kiev berates Moscow
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CRIMEANS were voting yesterday in a referendum on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with Kiev accusing Moscow of rapidly building up its armed forces on the peninsula in “crude violation” of an international treaty.
Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Ihor Tenyukh, Ukrainian acting defense minister, said Russian troop numbers in Crimea were now almost double the level agreed with Moscow, and Kiev’s forces were taking “appropriate measures” along the border with Russia.
Tenyukh dismissed any suggestion that a militarily and economically weakened Ukraine might give up in the face of Russian power.
“Decisions will be taken depending on how events unfold. But let me say once again that this is our land and we will not be leaving it,” he told the Interfax news agency.
Western countries say the vote, which is likely to favor union with Russia for a region which has a Russian-speaking majority, is illegal and being conducted at the barrel of a gun.
At the United Nations, 13 Security Council members voted for a draft resolution saying the result should not be recognized internationally, but Moscow exercised its veto while China abstained.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone yesterday that the referendum complied with international law, the Kremlin said, and Putin has promised to respect Crimeans’ decision.
Putin also expressed his concern about an escalation of tensions he said were caused by radical groups in the southeastern regions of Ukraine in “connivance with Kiev’s authorities,” the Kremlin statement said.
Both the West and Kiev have been powerless to stop the referendum.
At a polling booth at a school in Simferopol, the Crimean regional capital, dozens of people lined up outside to cast their ballots.
“I have voted for Russia,” said Svetlana Vasilyeva, a 27-year-old veterinary nurse. “This is what we have been waiting for. We are one family and we want to live with our brothers.”
Last month’s fall of Viktor Yanukovich, the Moscow-backed Ukrainian president, following deadly protests in Kiev has aroused fears among some of the country’s native Russian-speakers.
“We want to leave Ukraine because Ukrainians told us that we are people of a lower kind. How can you stay in such a country?” said Vasilyeva.
Provisional results were due to be released late last night with the final tally expected today or tomorrow.
Crimea’s 1.5 million voters had two options: union with Russia or giving their region, which is controlled by pro-Russia politicians, the broad right to determine its own path and choose relations with whom it wants — including Moscow.
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