Crime holds referendum.docVIP

Crimea holds referendum A child casts her mother’s ballot while holding a Russian flag at a polling station yesterday in Simferopol. Xinhua POLLS opened yesterday morning in a referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea region, in which voters are voicing their wish to either join Russia or become an effectively independent state connected to Ukraine. Beyond the question of Crimea’s future status, the vote will likely influence future international relations in the region and beyond. Results are expected today. The United States has already said it expects the Black Sea peninsula’s (黑海半岛)majority ethnic Russian population to vote in favor of joining Russia. Kicking off the polling in a prerecorded statement, Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov called on the residents of Crimea to cast their vote “independent of nationalism and disintegration.” Aksyonov acknowledged that the “eyes of the entire world are on us today.” He asked Crimeans to show their aspiration to “live free in the world with friendly relations with all.” The Black Sea peninsula was part of Russia until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954. Ukraine was then part of the Soviet Union. The leader of Crimea’s separatist authorities said that a survey last week by renowned Ukrainian and Crimean polling experts showed more than 80 percent of the region’s people are ready to join the Russian federation. Moscow has insisted it has the right to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, who it claims are threatened by radical nationalists and “fascists.” On Saturday, Russia wielded its veto power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council against a U.S. draft resolution that declared yesterday’s Crimea referendum invalid. Thirteen of the 15 Security Council members backed the resolution, while China abstained. (SD-Agencies) Next Content 4 ZoomIn ZoomOutDefault Estonia Proposes EU Arms Embargo against Russia 2014-03-19 11:10 0 来源：东北新闻网 T | T 字号： 打印 　　TAL