12:16
16.3.2014
Kyiv's Inter Television quoting Refat Chubarov, Crimea's chief mufti and the current head of the Mejlis, as saying Crimean Tatars are boycotting the referendum:
"We Crimean Tatars have never taken part in clown shows and circuses," he says.
"We Crimean Tatars have never taken part in clown shows and circuses," he says.
12:32
16.3.2014
Interfax quoting pro-Russia Crimean leader Sergei Askyonov as saying turnout near "45 to 50 percent" throughout the peninsula.
12:38
16.3.2014
Crimea's pro-Russia leader Sergei Aksyonov told Russia 24 Television that the Crimean Supreme Council (Eds. which the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv dissolved on March 15) will hold a session at 10:00 a.m. on March 17 to adopt the referendum results.
12:57
16.3.2014
EuroMaidan points out this unique voting cabinet:
Какое оригинальное оформление кабинок.А не запрещена ли агитация в день референдума? Хотя там посчитано еще вчера... pic.twitter.com/9lTnHAuvI7
— Євромайдан (@Dbnmjr) March 16, 2014
13:00
16.3.2014
"According to the information from polling stations, people are lining up. We have not had this kind of high activity from so early in the morning since Soviet times."
-- Crimean Electoral Commission head Mikhail Malyshev, as quoted by Reuters during a news conference in Simferopol
-- Crimean Electoral Commission head Mikhail Malyshev, as quoted by Reuters during a news conference in Simferopol
13:03
16.3.2014
Reuters speaks to voters in Simferopol:
"There has been no improvement over 20 years. Now we expect it. Everybody is expressing their will now. And the will of the people should be a sacred thing, not the will of the government that creates laws to suit themselves."
"It is such a festive day! I am so happy that I want to cry. My sister is 75 years old, she was born in the Soviet Union, and -- can you imagine -- all this time she has been dreaming to die in Russia. And now her dream has come true."
"There has been no improvement over 20 years. Now we expect it. Everybody is expressing their will now. And the will of the people should be a sacred thing, not the will of the government that creates laws to suit themselves."
-- Vitaly
"It is such a festive day! I am so happy that I want to cry. My sister is 75 years old, she was born in the Soviet Union, and -- can you imagine -- all this time she has been dreaming to die in Russia. And now her dream has come true."
-- Lyudmila
13:06
16.3.2014
"The result is very high. Everything will be okay, there's no doubt about that. Everybody is unanimous in their passion to vote and express their opinion. I'm confident that Crimeans now have an opportunity to make their free choice for the first time on which country they want to live in."
-- Crimea's pro-Russia Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, speaking to journalists in Simferopol (Reuters)
13:10
16.3.2014
A handy reminder of the big day:
#NeverForget! RT @PaulSonne: Ooh, a referendum refrigerator magnet. pic.twitter.com/W5ToQ6se99
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 16, 2014
13:15
16.3.2014
A look (in Russian) at how the vote is going, region by region:
Nearly half the population of #Crimea had voted by noon, reports @lifenews_ru. Breakdown of votes by region: http://t.co/bZFcHZjAwL
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 16, 2014