Daria Karpenko. Photo via Facebook.
Officially, the March 16 referendums in Sevastopol and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea showed that the peninsula’s inhabitants favor—almost unanimously—joining the Russian Federation. Over 95% of the population allegedly voted in favor of “reunification,” with turnouts of 83.1% in the Autonomous Republic and 86.1% in Sevastopol, home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Some in the West greeted these figures with disbelief, not least when a report from Russia’s own Human Rights Council seemed to indicate the real turnout was much lower (around 30%-50%) and support for annexation a much more lukewarm 50-60 percent. Russia’s media have been …read more
Source: Global Voices
