They would have won the vote count without inflating the outcome. Life was never good in the Ukraine (it is poor country). The Russians promised a big leap in pension (almost double), retirement age reduction (60 years old men, 55 for women), nobody in their current jobs to be fired if doing satisfactory work, everyone gets Russian passports, better military pension if switching sides (three times greater), higher pay for the military, generous housing allowances for military, gas 50% cheaper, etc...
Its all about the money stupid: jobs and benefits.
And voters the world over never say “no” to these kind of things. Certainly Russia is a prosperous country but now it has to figure out how to pay for those promises to Crimean voters.
The sell was the easy part; the challenge will be in delivering on all that was promised.