According to the recent referendum, 95.5% of Crimean voters chose to leave Ukraine and join Russia. [1] Upon learning of such a high percentage, two thoughts passed through my mind...that this vote was unfair and also that even if it were fair, the choice to join Russia would have probably still gotten a majority. The demographics of Crimea are as follows: [2] 58.32% Russians 24.32% Ukrainians 12.10% Crimean Tatars Elsewhere, I've seen that 77% of Crimeans speak Russian, and I'm not sure if this conflicts with the previous demographics or if many ethnic Ukranians and Tatars speak Russian. Here is a map of the native languages of Ukraine, showing clearly the Russian majority in Crimea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UkraineNativeLanguagesCensus2001detailed-en.png At any rate, Russians make up a majority, but not such an overwhelming majority. Even with groups abstaining from voting, the results seem skewed. But assuming a fair election with nobody abstaining,