Crimea prepares to vote
A woman holds a Russian flag as she casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
An elderly voter marks a ballot paper before casting it in a mobile ballot box during voting in a referendum at the village of Pionerskoye in Simferopol March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia in the referendum that has alarmed the ex-Soviet republic and triggered the worst crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
A woman casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
A woman casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
A woman casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
A woman leaves the booth to cast her ballot during a referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia in the referendum that has alarmed the ex-Soviet republic and triggered the worst crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
People leave voting booths to cast their ballots in a referendum at a polling station in Simferopol March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
A woman casts her ballot during voting in a referendum at a polling station in Dobroye outside Simferopol March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili (UKRAINE - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ELECTIONS)
A woman casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
A woman casts her ballot during the referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region at a polling station in Bakhchisaray March 16, 2014. Crimeans decided on Sunday 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. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
An election commission official takes part in the preparations for a referendum at the polling station in the Crimean town of Simferopol March 15, 2014. Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for the referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine to Moscow, despite the threat of sanctions and condemnation from Western governments. Sunday's vote, dismissed by Kiev as illegal, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, and ratcheted up tensions not only in Crimea but also eastern Ukraine, where two people were killed in clashes late on Friday. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Trucks drive out of a Russian landing craft at the Crimean port of Sevastopol March 14, 2014. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Ukrainian servicemen drive armoured vehicles past trucks near the village of Chongar in Kherson region, March 15, 2014. Ukraine's military scrambled aircraft and paratroops on Saturday to repel an attempt by Russian forces to enter a long spit of land belonging to a region adjacent to Crimea, Ukraine's defence ministry said. 'Units of Ukraine's armed forces today...repelled an attempt by servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation to enter the territory of Kherson region on Arbatskaya Strelka,' a ministry statement said. 'This was repelled immediately.' REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Ukrainian servicemen stand guard at the entrance to a base in the village of Lyubimovka, near Sevastopol, March 15, 2014. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Pro-Russian supporters take part in a rally in Sevastopol, Crimea March 15, 2014. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Pro-Russian supporters take part in a rally in Sevastopol, Crimea, March 15, 2014. Displayed in the background are Russia's presidential flags. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Election commission officials take part in the preparations for a referendum at the polling station in the Crimean town of Simferopol March 15, 2014. Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for the referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine to Moscow, despite the threat of sanctions and condemnation from Western governments. Sunday's vote, dismissed by Kiev as illegal, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, and ratcheted up tensions not only in Crimea but also eastern Ukraine, where two people were killed in clashes late on Friday. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Election commission officials count ballots as they take part in preparations for a referendum inside a school in Sevastopol March 15, 2014. Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for a referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine to Moscow, despite the threat of sanctions and condemnation from Western governments. Sunday's vote, dismissed by Kiev as illegal, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, and ratcheted up tensions not only in Crimea but also eastern Ukraine, where two people were killed in clashes late on Friday. REUTERS/Baz Ratner
Election commission officials count ballots ahead of a referendum at the polling station in the Crimean town of Simferopol March 15, 2014. Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for the referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine to Moscow, despite the threat of sanctions and condemnation from Western governments. Sunday's vote, dismissed by Kiev as illegal, has triggered the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, and ratcheted up tensions not only in Crimea but also eastern Ukraine, where two people were killed in clashes late on Friday. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
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SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine/KIEV - Crimeans voted in a referendum on Sunday on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with Kiev accusing Moscow of rapidly building up its armed forces on the peninsula in 'crude violation' of an international treaty.
Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Ukrainian acting defence minister Ihor Tenyukh said Russian troop numbers in Crimea were now almost double the level agreed with Moscow, and Kiev's forces were taking 'appropriate measures' along the border with Russia.
Tenyukh dismissed any suggestion that a militarily and economically weakened Ukraine might give up in the face of the Russian power.
'Decisions will be taken depending on how events unfold. But let me say once again that this is our land and we will not be leaving it,' he told Interfax news agency.
Western countries say the vote, which is likely to favour union with Russia for a region which has a Russian-speaking majority, is illegal and being conducted at the barrel of a gun.
At the United Nations, 13 Security Council members voted for a draft resolution saying the result should not be recognised internationally, but Moscow exercised its veto while China abstained. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected the Western accusations, telling his U.S. counterpart John Kerry that the referendum complied with international law.
Both the West and Kiev have been powerless to stop the referendum. At a polling booth at a 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.'
Last month's fall of Moscow-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich following deadly protests in Kiev has aroused fears among some of the country's native Russian-speakers.
'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?' said Vasilyeva.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close 12 hours later. Provisional results will be released late on Sunday with the final tally expected a day or two later.
Crimea's 1.5 million voters have two options: union with Russia or giving their region, which is controlled by pro-Kremlin politicians, the broad right to determine its own path and choose relations with whom it wants - including Moscow. A CRUDE VIOLATION
Russia has the right to keep forces on the Black Sea peninsula, including at its naval base in the port of Sevastopol, under a treaty signed after Ukraine gained independence from the wreckage of the Soviet Union in 1991.
But Tenyukh accused Moscow of going far beyond an agreed limit on servicemen which he said was 12,500 for 2014. 'Unfortunately, in a very short period of time, this 12,500 has grown to 22,000. This is a crude violation of the bilateral agreements and is proof that Russia has unlawfully brought its troops onto the territory of Crimea,' he said.
This figure had risen from 18,400 on Friday. 'The Ukrainian armed forces are therefore taking appropriate measures along the southern borders,' he said.
Many Crimeans hope union with Russia will bring better pay and make them citizens of a country capable of asserting itself on the world stage. But others see the referendum as a land grab by the Kremlin from Ukraine, whose new rulers want to move the country towards the European Union and away from Russia's sway.
Ethnic Tatars, Sunni Muslims who make up 12 percent of Crimea's population, said they would boycott the vote despite promises by the authorities to give them financial aid and proper land rights.
'This is my land. This is the land of my ancestors. Who asked me if I want it or not? Who asked me?,' said Shevkaye Assanova, a Crimean Tatar in her 40s. 'For the rest of my life I will be cursing those who brought these people here. I don't recognise this at all. I curse all of them.' PROTECTION FROM 'FASCISTS'
Russian President Vladimir Putin has justified his stance on Crimea by saying he must protect people from 'fascists' in Kiev who ousted Yanukovich following the uprising in which more than 100 people were killed.
Western powers, preparing economic sanctions against Moscow over Crimea, largely dismiss his characterisation of the new authorities in Kiev as the successors of Nazi-allied Ukrainian forces which fought the Red Army in World War Two.
At the United Nations Russia vetoed on Saturday the draft resolution drawn up by the United States which called on 'all states, international organizations and specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of Crimea on the basis of this referendum'.
'This is a sad and remarkable moment,' Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said after the vote. 'Crimea is part of Ukraine today. It will be part of Ukraine tomorrow. It will be part of Ukraine next week,' she said.
Paris also tried to portray Moscow as isolated. 'This annexation...goes beyond Ukraine, it concerns us all,' Gerard Araud, France's U.N. ambassador, said in a statement. 'This veto must be seen as a defeat only for Russia.'
However, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that Lavrov had told U.S. Secretary of State Kerry in a phone call the previous day that the referendum was legal.
'Lavrov reiterated that the Crimean referendum fully complies with international law and the United Nations Charter and the results should be the starting point in determining the future of the peninsula,' the ministry said in a statement. TENSIONS IN CYBERSPACE
Tenions over Crimea appear also to be spreading in cyberspace. Unidentified hackers brought down several public NATO websites with attacks on Saturday, the alliance said.
Spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said on Twitter that the attacks, which began on Saturday evening, continued on Sunday, although most services had now been restored.
'It doesn't impede our ability to command and control our forces. At no time was there any risk to our classified networks,' another NATO official said.
A group calling itself 'cyber berkut' - named after riot police formally disbanded by the central powers in Kiev - said the attack had been carried out by patriotic Ukrainians angry over what they saw as NATO interference in their country.
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.
On Saturday night, about 30 men in balaclavas with automatic weapons barged into the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel where many Western reporters covering Sunday'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. Poll
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