Crimeans decide today 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.
Thousands of Russian troops have taken control of the Black Sea peninsula, and Crimea’s pro-Russian leaders have sought to ensure the vote is tilted in Moscow’s favour.
That, along with an ethnic Russian majority, is expected to result in a comfortable “Yes” vote to leave Ukraine, a move that could prompt US and European sanctions as early as tomorrow against those seen as responsible for the takeover of Crimea.
Polling stations opened at 8am local time and close 12 hours later. Provisional results will be released late today with the final tally expected one or two days later.
At a polling booth inside a high school in Simferopol, the Crimean regional capital, dozens of people lined up outside to cast their ballots early.
“I have voted for Russia,” said Svetlana Vasilyeva, a veterinary nurse who is 27. “This is what we have been waiting for. We are one family and we want to live with our brothers.
“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?”
The majority of Crimea’s 1.5 million electorate, like Svetlana, support leaving Ukraine and becoming part of Russia, citing expectations of better pay and the prospect of joining a country capable of asserting itself on the world stage.
But others see the referendum as nothing more than a geo-political land grab by the Kremlin which is seeking to exploit Ukraine’s relative economic and military weakness as it moves towards the European mainstream away from Russia.
Ethnic Tatars, Sunni Muslims of Turkic origin who make up 12 per cent of Crimea’s population, said they would boycott the referendum, despite promises by the authorities to give them financial aid and proper land rights.
German chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian president Vladimir Putin more Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers should be sent to Ukraine, a plan he welcomed, Ms Merkel's spokesman said today.
“The chancellor proposed swiftly expanding the existing OSCE presence in Ukraine and sending a bigger number of observers into hot spots, especially in East Ukraine,” her spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement about a phone call between the two leaders.
“The Russian president viewed this initiative positively. He promised he would instruct foreign minister (Sergei) Lavrov accordingly.”
Mr Putin has justified his stance on Crimea by saying he must protect people from "fascists" in Kiev who ousted the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich in February following a violent uprising in which more than 100 people were killed.
The protests began when Yanukovich turned his back on a trade deal with the European Union and opted for a credit and cheap oil deal worth billions of dollars with Ukraine's former Soviet overlord, Russia.
Kiev and Western governments have declared the referendum illegal, but have been powerless to stop it.
Voters have two options to choose from - but both imply Russian control of the peninsula.
On the surface, the second choice appears to offer the prospect of Crimea remaining with Ukraine.
However, the 1992 constitution which it cites foresees giving the region effective independence within Ukraine, but with the right to determine its own path and choose relations with whom it wants - including with Russia.
The streets of Simferopol have been largely calm in the days leading up to the vote, although the heavy presence of armed men, many wearing black balaclavas, has created an unnerving atmosphere in the normally sleepy town.
Last night, about 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons barged into the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel where many Western reporters covering today's referendum are staying.
They said they had come to investigate an unspecified security alert and did not threaten anyone, but some witnesses saw it as a move to intimidate journalists.
Crimean prime minister Sergei Aksyonov, whose election two weeks ago in a closed session of the regional parliament is not recognised by Kiev, does not officially acknowledge that Russian troops are in control of Crimea - a position also maintained by Moscow.
They say that thousands of unidentified armed men, visible across the region, belong to “self-defence” groups created to ensure stability.
Agencies