Sunday’s vote in Ukraine’s Crimea is being officially billed as a chance for the peninsula’s peoples to decide fairly and freely their future – but in fact there is no room on the ballot paper for voting “Nyet” to control by Russia. The Crimean voter will have the right to choose only one of two options in the March 16 referendum which the region’s pro-Russian leadership, protected by Russian forces, announced earlier this month. According to a format of the ballot paper, published on the parliament’s website, the first question will ask: “Are you in favor of the reunification of Crimea with Russia as a part of the Russian Federation?” The second asks: “Are you in favor of restoring the 1992 Constitution and the status of Crimea as a part of Ukraine?”
At first glance, the second option seems to offer the prospects of the peninsula remaining within Ukraine.
But the 1992 national blueprint – which was adopted soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union and then quickly abolished by the young post-Soviet Ukrainian state – is far from doing that.
This foresees giving Crimea all the qualities of an independent entity within Ukraine – but with the broad right to determine its own path and choose relations with whom it wants – including Russia.
Full Article: No Room for ‘Nyet’ in Ukraine’s Crimea Vote to Join Russia.