What referendum? The supposed voting was a blatantly staged fraud with truckloads of premarked ballots and ballots with no option to vote in favor of ramining a territory of the Ukraine.
Those reports prove the election was massively rigged by Putin’s Russian regime, because the demographics alone make such an election result quite impossible. The Ukrainians make up something on the order of more than 25 percent of the population and the Crimean Tatars more than 12 percent of the population. The ethnic Russians are fewer than 58 percent of the population. Many ethnic Russians in the Crimea were loyal to the Ukraine and wanted to have nothing to do with Putin’s autocratic Russian government. At the very most a fair election result would have seen no more than a 45 percent vote in favor of annexing to Russia, and a far more likely result would have been around 9 to 12 percent in favor of Russian annexation.
Another way of knowing with absolute certainty the voting was rigged and fraudulent is by looking at the ballots. The ballots presented the voter with only two choices. One choice was for the Crimea to declare independence from the Ukraine. The other choice was for the Crimea to declare independence from the Ukraine and request Russian to annex the Crimea to Russia. The faked vote chose to become annexed to Russia. Nowhere on the ballot was there any option to vote in favor of remaining the territory of the Ukraine.
“Nowhere on the ballot was there any option to vote in favor of remaining the territory of the Ukraine.”
I’m pretty sure Putin already decided that was not a choice. Better without bloodshed, though.
I think you are barking. Crimea is Russian. 60% ethnic Russians. 12% Tartars. Less than a 1/4 Ukrainians who are split on East West preference about equal. They hate the West.
“Those reports prove the election was massively rigged by Putin’s Russian regime, because the demographics alone make such an election result quite impossible”
Never watched an election in Chicago, DC, or Detroit, have you?.