93% CRIMEA CITIZENS HAVE VOTED TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH RUSSIA...

About 93% of voters in Crimea have backed joining Russia and
seceding from Ukraine.
Many opponents boycotted the vote, which has been rejected by
the US and the EU as illegitimate.
Pro-Russian forces took control of Crimea in February after
Ukraine's pro-Moscow president was overthrown.
Pro-Moscow crowds celebrated after voting in the Crimean capital
Simferopol

For ethnic Tatars, Sunday was a normal day - many boycotted the
referendum
Election officials said the turnout was a record high, beating the
numbers who vote in local elections
On the ballot paper, voters were asked whether they would like
Crimea to rejoin Russia.
A second question asked whether Ukraine should return to its
status under the 1992 constitution, which would give the region
much greater autonomy.
There was no option for those who wanted the constitutional
situation to remain unchanged.
Ethnic Russians make up 58.5% of the region's population, and
many of them were expected to vote for joining Russia.
There are 1.5 million eligible voters and unconfirmed reports put
the turnout in Sunday's vote at 80%.
Sergei Aksyonov, who was installed as Crimea's regional
government leader after Russia's military takeover, said the people
had voted freely and a session of parliament would take place on
Monday.
"We will do everything as quickly as possible, but at the same
time we will observe all legal procedures,"
But White House spokesman Jay Carney condemned the vote as
"dangerous and destabilising".
"As the United States and our allies have made clear, military
intervention and violation of international law will bring increasing
costs for Russia - not only due to measures imposed by the United
States and our allies but also as a direct result of Russia's own
destabilising actions," he said in a statement.
The European Union said the vote was "illegal and illegitimate and
its outcome will not be recognised". EU foreign ministers are due
to meet on Monday and are expected to consider imposing
sanctions on Russian officials.
One voter, Olga Koziko, said that she was voting for
secession because she did not want to be governed by "those
Nazis who came to power in Kiev".
"Russia will defend us and protect us," the schoolteacher said.
Away from the Crimea region, unrest continued in the south-east
Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Pro-Russian protesters stormed the prosecutor's building
shouting "Donetsk is a Russian city", and then broke into the local
security services headquarters for the second time in two days.
They later dispersed but promised to return on Monday.
The protesters are demanding that the prosecutor release a pro-
Russian leader, Pavel Gubarev.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had told German
Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone he was concerned by
escalating tensions in Donetsk, blaming "radical groups" which
had the consent of Kiev.
Mr Putin told Mrs Merkel that Sunday's referendum was legal and
Moscow would respect the result.
The German chancellor's spokesman said she had proposed
expanding the presence of international observers from the OSCE
in eastern Ukraine and that Mr Putin had welcomed the plan.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned that the
authorities would track down separatist "ringleaders".
"We will find all of them - if it takes one year, two years - and
bring them to justice and try them in Ukrainian and international
courts,"