by
Martin Banks
"We want to return to the Motherland"... that was the crystal clear message coming from voters in Crimea on the historic day its 2.5m population went to the polls to decide their future.
The "Motherland" they refer to is the Russian Federation and all the indications are that they could soon get their wish.
I was in Crimea as part of an international election observation mission, organised by the Crimean Parliament which approved and organised Sunday's referendum on whether Crimea should seek reunification with Russia or continue to remain in Ukraine.
Other members of the independent team came from Italy, Israel and Spain. They included regional and national politicians, political activists and, like me, journalists.
Based in the coastal town of Evpatoria, which has a population of 130,000 and is about 45 minutes' drive from Simferopol where flights from Ukraine have in the past few days been severely restricted. Like much of the region, the seaside resort has clearly seen better days and is comprised mostly of ethnic Russians.
The team visited a voting station in Saki, which has a population of 78,800, including 35,000 ethnic Russians and 23,800 Ukrainians.
Alexander Ovdienko is head of district administration of Saki - where the Crimean War started - and responsible for the election across the whole region.
Despite being from Ukraine himself, he was in no doubt about where his sympathies lie, saying he would be voting in favour of reunification with Russia.
Ovdienko, who is also a deputy in the Crimean Parliament and once served in the Soviet Army, said, "There have been no complaints from citizens about the process and, despite the poor weather, people have been coming out to vote in some numbers."
The father of three told me, "I was born in Ukraine, speak Ukrainian and my parents still live there but people, including me, want change. Crimea historically belonged to Russia and, mentally, most of us here think ourselves as being Russian. However, no matter what the nationality, there has been a sense for a long time that things are not right in Crimea and in order to improve our economic situation we have to do something about changing our status."
The economic plight of Crimea is a topic that cropped up time and again with the many people we spoke to as we travelled from one polling station to another to monitor the proceedings. And judging by the rundown condition of many homes, the terrible state of most public highways and general sense of fatalistic depression hanging over both the region and its inhabitants, it is hard not to sympathise with the case they argue.
Most of the polling stations (which almost all had Russian Federation flags fluttering outside with not a sing of Ukrainian flags to be seen anywhere) were fairly busy from 8am when they opened and by 10am Ovdienko reported 18.4 per cent of the local population in Saki Region had already cast their vote at 71 polling stations. Ovdienko said he expected the 'yes to reunification with Russia' to be approved by as many as 90 per cent of the Crimean electorate.
At another town, Frunze, the local mayor, Valentina Genri, again cited the desperate economic deprivation on Crimea as the main reason for severing links with Ukraine.
With, bizarrely, songs by 1980s British pop star Rick Astley being played on the tannoy, she told me, "Russia is our Motherland and our brothers are all Russian.
"There is no place for the neo-Nazism we have seen recently in Kiev. What has happened there amounts to a military coup but people in Europe have been getting a false picture of the situation here in Crimea. They do not understand that we have badly suffered economically with little or no investment in Crimea by the central government in Kiev. This cannot continue and, today, we are simply exercising our democratic right to vote to determine our future. Is that a crime? Surely not." She added, "This referendum has been branded illegitimate but what is really illegitimate is the current government in Kiev."
She countered Western criticism that the referendum had been organised with undue haste, insisting, "That is no the case at all and I cannot understand the hysterical reaction to this vote by Western politicians. When people round here heard they might get the chance to vote, they mobilised all efforts to ensure the vote would go ahead and also take place in a right a proper manger which I believe has been the case."
Vassily Gierasimenko is a surgeon in Evpatoria of Ukrainian origin, who acted an unofficial guide for the election monitoring mission.
He articulates his case for voting in favour of reunification, saying, "There has been criticism of this referendum but look at the turnout out and at the numbers voting as I did today. They speak for themselves I think. Will things change? We believe so but not if we remain under the control of Kiev."
Olga Protsenko, a mother of two, also cast her vote in favour of reunification, saying, "Kiev has threatened sanctions against Crimea over this referendum but that has not deterred people like me from coming out and voting in favour of reunification with Russia."
Looking to the future, another woman, an accountant, said, "We do not know how things will pan out. It all depends on the relationship Crimea will have with Moscow. But this region has a lot of natural resources, a willing and hardworking labour force.. it just needs proper investment to enable us to become self-sufficient. Crimeans like me currently give millions in taxes to Kiev each year and get little or nothing in return."
The ballot paper contained two questions in three languages: Russian, Ukraine and Tatar, spoken by the indigenous Turkic group that makes up 12 per cent of Crimea's population.
Much of the infrastructure on Crimea dates to Soviet times and 60 per cent of the population is ethnic Russian.
Contrary to many media stories, there was little or no evidence of Russian military personnel during our travels around Crimea and life seemed to be progressing perfectly normally, with children playing in the street while some made their way to work. Personally I saw nothing untoward with the voting process, which was overseen by the Electoral Commission in Crimea.
The clear message to seemingly emerge from what many have called Crimea's day of destiny is this: everyone has the right to determine their future and Crimeans have made their choice. Later in the evening, the people of Evpatoria took to the streets to 'celebrate' the expected outcome of the vote, with a pop concert and firework display.
As one animated middle-aged woman who has lived on the peninsula all her life said, "I hope the international community will now stop interfering in our internal affairs and respect this."
By: N. Peter Kramer
