High turnout for secession vote in Crimea

An election observer sits at a polling station in Simferopol, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 16, 2014. Residents of Ukraine's Crimea region are voting in a contentious referendum on whether to split off and seek annexation by Russia.
An election observer sits at a polling station in Simferopol, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 16, 2014. Residents of Ukraine's Crimea region are voting in a contentious referendum on whether to split off and seek annexation by Russia.

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — As Russian flags fluttered in the breeze and retirees grew weepy at the thought of reuniting with Russia, residents of Ukraine's Crimea region held a secession vote Sunday. The United States and Europe condemned the referendum as illegal, while Ukraine's new government called it a "circus" directed at gunpoint by Moscow.

The Crimea referendum offered voters on the strategic Black Sea Peninsula the choice of seeking annexation by Russia or remaining in Ukraine with greater autonomy.

Opponents of secession appeared to largely stay away Sunday, denouncing the vote as a cynical power play/land grab by Russia. But turnout was reported to be well above the 50 percent that would make the referendum binding — and secession was expected to be approved overwhelmingly.

"Today is an important day for all of Crimea, Ukraine and Russia," voter Manita Meshchina said in Sevastopol, the Crimean port where Russia now leases a major naval base from Ukraine for $98 million a year.

More than 70 people surged into a polling station in the city within the first 15 minutes of voting Sunday.

A vote backing secession would not only leave Russia facing strong sanctions by the West but could encourage the pro-Russian sentiment that is rising in Ukraine's east and lead to further divisions in this nation of 46 million. Western Ukraine and the capital of Kiev are strongly pro-West and Ukrainian nationalist.

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