Crimeans vote to join Russia, separate from Ukraine
Residents in Crimea voted as expected, overwhelmingly opting to join Russia and break away from Ukraine in Sunday’s referendum, Reuters reports.
- Pro-Russian Crimeans gather to celebrate in Simferopol’s Lenin Square on March 16, 2014 after exit polls showed that about 93 percent of voters in Ukraine’s Crimea region supported union with Russia. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)
- People in Lenin Square attend a pro-Russian rally after a day of voting on March 16, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine. Crimeans went to the polls Sunday in a vote that will decide whether the region will break away from mainland Ukraine. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
- Pro-Russian Crimeans hold a sign reading “Hello Russia!” as they gather to celebrate in Simferopol’s Lenin Square on March 16, 2014 after exit polls showed that about 93 percent of voters in Ukraine’s Crimea region supported union with Russia. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)
- Pro-Russian Crimeans wave Russian flags as they gather to celebrate in Simferopol’s Lenin Square on March 16, 2014 after exit polls showed that about 93 percent of voters in Ukraine’s Crimea region supported union with Russia. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)
- A Crimean man celebrates in Simferopol’s Lenin Square on March 16, 2014 after exit polls showed that about 93 percent of voters in Ukraine’s Crimea region supported union with Russia. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)
- Election staff begin the count at a polling station after a day of voting on March 16, 2014 in Bachchisaray, Ukraine. Crimeans went to the polls Sunda in a vote that will decide whether the peninsular region will break away from mainland Ukraine. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- Election staff begin the count at a polling station after a day of voting on March 16, 2014 in Bachchisaray, Ukraine. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- Election staff begin the count at a polling station after a day of voting on March 16, 2014 in Bachchisaray, Ukraine. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- A pro-Russian demonstrator scuffles with police during a rally in Donetsk, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. Ukraine accused “Kremlin agents” on Saturday of fomenting deadly violence in Russian-speaking cities and urged people not to rise to provocations its new leaders fear Moscow may use to justify a further invasion after its takeover of Crimea. (Mikhail Maslovsky/Reuters)
- Ukrainian servicemen guard a checkpoint as a Ukrainian MI-24 military helicopter flies near the village of Strelkovo in Kherson region adjacent to Crimea, March 16, 2014. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
- A referendum ballot with a Russia vote is displayed as referendum staff collect the votes of people too infirm to visit a polling stations on March 16, 2014 in a predominantly Russian area of Bachchisaray, Ukraine. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- Ukrainian servicemen guard a checkpoint near the village of Strelkovo in Kherson region adjacent to Crimea, March 16, 2014. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
- Referendum staff walk on a street as they collect the votes of people too infirm to visit the polling station on March 16, 2014 in a predominantly Russian area of Bachchisaray, Ukraine. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- A woman arrives at a polling station in the snow on March 16, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- A man exits a voting booth prior to casting his vote in a local school on March 16, 2014, in Simferopol, Ukraine. People in Crimea took to the polls on March 16 for a referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia, a move that has precipitated a Cold War-style security crisis on Europe’s eastern frontier. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)
- A woman holds a Russian flag as she casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine’s Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray, March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum that has alarmed the ex-Soviet republic and triggered the worst crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)
- A woman waits to cast her vote inside a polling station on March 16, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine. Crimeans headed to the polls Sunday in a vote that will decide whether the region should secede from mainland Ukraine. The referendum, which has been dismissed as illegal by the West, follows the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- A girl stands outside a polling booth with a Russian flag inside a polling station on March 16, 2014 in Bachchisaray, Ukraine. As the standoff between pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian military continues in the Crimean peninsula, world leaders are continuing to push for a diplomatic solution to the escalating situation. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
- A boy, wearing a toy helmet, holds a shield, similar to the ones’ used by Maidan Square activists, at Independence Square in Kiev on March 16, 2014, during a rally to support Crimea’s status as part of Ukraine. Crimeans voted on March 16 in a unique referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia. (Yury Kirnichny/AFP/Getty Images)
- An elderly woman holds a religious icon as she and other pro-Russian activists take part in a rally in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 16, 2014. (Alexander Khudoteply/AFP/Getty Images)
- An official waits for voters during the referendum on the status of Ukraine’s Crimea region at a polling station in a predominantly Tatar district of the town of Bakhchisaray, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. Ethnic Tatars, Sunni Muslims who make up 12 percent of Crimea’s population, said they would boycott the vote despite promises by the authorities to give them financial aid and proper land rights. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)
- A man votes inside a polling station on March 16, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine. Crimeans went to the polls Sunday in a vote that will decide whether the peninsular region should secede from Ukraine. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
- Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov casts his ballot during voting in a referendum at a polling station in Simferopol, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. (Stringer/Reuters)
- A Russian troop stands guard in front of an APC at a checkpoint in Crimea, near the town of Armyansk, Ukraine, on March 16, 2014. Crimea has been seized by Russian forces over the past month after Ukraine’s uprising, plunging US-Russia ties to their lowest point since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. (Alexey Kravtsov/AFP/Getty Images)
- Motorcyclists bearing the Russian and Crimean flags pass by Simferopol’s Lenin Square on March 16, 2014. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)
- An official waits for voters during the referendum on the status of Ukraine’s Crimea region at a polling station in a predominantly Tatar district of the town of Bakhchisaray, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)
- A man enters a voting booth during the referendum on the statusof Ukraine’s Crimea region at a polling station in Sevastopol, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)
- People carry a giant Russian flag during a pro-Russian rally in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. (Stringer/Reuters)
- People cast their ballots during voting in a referendum at a polling station in Simferopol, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. Voting got underway in Crimea on Sunday as the inhabitants of this Ukrainian region began to cast their ballots in a referendum aimed at deciding whether the peninsula leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)
- A man casts his vote from home in a mobile ballot box in a referendum in Dobroye outside Simferopol, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. (David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)
- A man casts his vote in a mobile ballot box during voting in a referendum in the village of Pionerskoye outside Simferopol, Ukraine, March 16, 2014. (David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)