>> welcome to a special edition. story, exit polls in crimea say 93% have voted to lead ukraine. the referendum says ukraine has called for a boycott. we will go live to our correspondent in moscow and the deputy minister who says it was free and fair. the poll close a hour ago.

it suggests an overwhelming majority voted for a union with russia. there were celebrations. have said the ee you they see it as legal and they will not expect the outcome. russia is pouring troops into the peninsula and planning to annex it. president. the he faces international isolation if he does not change this. the referendum was in accordance with international law. you must respect the will of the prime ian people -- crimean people. the polls have closed. what have you been hearing and seeing today? >> i have just been to the main square here. gathered to celebrate the outcome of the referendum. they are singing and dancing and

carrying this. they seem to be quite happy they are going to join russia soon. the people tell me dreamscape came true. when you look at the wrist exit polls you have to mention them. the number is 93% in favor to join russia. this number seems to me quite high even if you take into account that most of the people with thiso park referendum are in favor of joining gresham. if you look at the turnout, which is currently 80%, it is a very high number when you take into account for example this. he has this to boycott the referendum. >> there have been reports of a number of confrontations leading up to this. what can you tell us about those? have been reports about this.

saying that people who cannot prevent any documents were allowed for those anyway. reports about people who did not want to vote but were forced to vote anyway. i have taught to several. hometowne that in his he has seen about 200 people who were brought there by gunmen and to voted them on both of those. according to the officials from the government and crania, there were no irregularities. >> thank you for joining us. >> it has been two weeks since per russian or says took control of crania. russia has also taken control of a natural gas distribution plant right next to crimea. according to tf, russians -- k

tookrussians came in and over the plant. it has ratcheted up intentions even more. they say they have the right to do whatever it needs to. saysrainian television these helicopters are circling. the prime minister says that around 80 russian soldiers moved in and to control the village early afternoon. the ukrainian put the number of troops higher. is about 10 commenters north of the border. if these are russian soldiers, this could be russians first military intervention outside of crania. local residents said they were baffled by residents of the truth. >> they do not say which terrorist acts. >> there've been no reports of gunfire injuries. ukraine says it has the right to take all necessary measures to

stop the russian invasion. been unrest further eastward they are calling for a referendum on more self-determination. they stormed a multiple government buildings including the state prosecutor office. the demonstrators have come up with no business from authorities. killed as this erected in the city. expand ankel wants to observer mission in ukraine. phone call toon a vladimir putin on sunday. there have been unrest and parts of ukraine. how concerned are they that they could try to promote a referendum in other parts of ukraine? >> very concerned. the situation is becoming very dangerous.

at the moment we're seeing hundreds, maybe thousands of people. we are watching for russia. we are not actually calling the moment of ukraine. morere calling for authority. they are for federalization of the country. ukraine is a united country. this could spin out of control. stated it is hearing voices asking for help. they will consider such help. they fear this might mean a russian intervention with the armed forces. at the moment, a lot of people are looking at the region for the blood. man in theichest ukraine. he is also from the party.

why people asked themselves is he doing nothing to stop the violence? it has the power and authority to do so. >> what has been the reaction to the referendum there today? >> there is no position in the ukrainian government. it is legal. --re are those whose the those who support it. >> thank you very much for joining us. by.arcus is standing an overwhelming majority seen have voted in favor of russia. what is next? >> this goes down well with officials. the leaders of the parliamentary debating on state

control televisions on moscow this evening on whether this will have to be taken next to integrate this. about the timetable. how fast can it go? >> hal has been the reference to the renter and him today? theeople in general support crimean policies. that is to support the referendum. he talked to angela merkel. he supports this referendum. he think it is illegal. >> we just heard the perspective of tf. could we see roscoe -- puglisi moscow support and other areas? is very likely to keep

taking a tough stance. there are a lot of troops. next to the ukrainian border. last week we saw reports on state-controlled television. >> thank you for joining us. >> crimea is home to many different groups. ukrainians. the black see a prized region. >> this has a long history of a

geostrategic focal point. for the last 2000 years crimea has seen many people come and go. from the greeks to the mongols to the golden horde to the muslim to christian ukrainians and russians. they lay the basis for the current dispute. in april, they annexed crania. this is a max exodus. a second wave followed under joseph stalin. when the soviet dictator met with president franklin roosevelt and the prime minister winton -- winston churchill in 1945, this has been underway for

months. they are making up about 16 of the population. they make this at the states for today's disputes. this was a formality. if you can imagine the soviet union would break up less than 30 years later. crimea has been part of a foreign country. >> he specializes in russian and eastern european issues. you were in crimea during the recent up evils. what were your impressions? >> i arrived in crimea shortly before the intervention. it was very pro-russian. people are in blood: -- ambivalent about breaking away

from ukraine as a country. what they said was a frustration that they were being neglected by the national government. people were nervous that there might be some revenge. 93% is very surprising. it is not much up with the into total evidence that i collected. >> what about moscow? does russia fear sanctions? said sanctions are like mosquito bites. putin returned to the presidency in 2012 we have seen a real entrenchment of his forces. he has been forcing politicians to repatriate their funds back to russia. if there are sanctions, it will only confirm if the west is out to get us. they are encircling us. as with sanctions and other parts of the world, often they

do not affect people that they are actually supposed to. that analysis.r 40% of the country's gas in germany does come from russia. the business interests are increasingly intertwined your moscow is also dependent on selling its gas. gasestern europe to biggest facility can store enough natural gas to heat 2 million single-family homes for a year. mid-2014, they will own one fit of the storage capacity. that is the result of an asset swap [indiscernible] in exchange, they get part ownership of the gas fields in siberia. some experts are not sure it is a good move. >> and might of the crisis in ukraine and given that russia is currently easing its gas as a

political weapon again, it is worrying that there is a russian state-owned gas firm in germany that could conceivably used for geostrategic purposes. sudden stop to russian gas deliveries would not be a problem for germany for now. after a mild winter, storage facilities have fallen. only a third of tourneys applies come from russia. in and the netherlands each supply some. germany itself produces a 10th of its own needs. the others come from to mark in the u.k.. is continuing to deliver gas. a shut off would be disastrous for its own economy. exporttwo thirds of the revenues and have to the state budget come from sales of gas and oil. in-depth look at the crisis in crimea geek can find more info on our website. take a short one minute break.

coming up, is the referendum illegal? a former member of the international law the gives us his perspective. we will be back with that in a minute. >> welcome back to our special coverage of the crimea referendum on whether to break away from ukraine. early exitials say polls suggest 93% of voters in crimea have this with a russia. we will keep you up to date as they arrive. the progression administration is fully behind the vote. earlier today our correspondent alexander interviewed the crimean deputy prime minister. we have this for you now. authorities suspect in extreme a high turnout. they are convinced that they will get a great majority in

favor of joining russia. with me here is the cry minister of -- prime minister of crimea. the european union and united states say it is illegal. this is legal. forfeit our loading in crimea. our soldiers say that approximately 82 people want to join crimea to russia. remember the referendum in kosovo. therefore the international community. lacks it was about the crimean referendum. >> this is approximately 300,000 here.

all crimean population. they say that approximately 37 of them want to join crimea to russia. >> what about the reports that we're getting that say we have the lego rarities -- irregularities. people that are against the referendum are forced to cast this at home. are you going to investigate the report? >> yes. we have the very big information with this. any regularity? >> what is going to happen next?

tomorrow or the day after tomorrow the russian parliament road for new law about crimea. that is why i think approximately one or two weeks a legal situation in crimea by russian law. i a enjoy not in the studio former member of the united nations international law commission. is west says this referendum illegal. what is your perspective? >> these are true. they are correct. under international law, a referendum can take lace in full liberty. under a threats of arms and russia has sent troops, then it cannot ever be a free referendum.

they cannot be an express treaty. proshas taken place on the and cons of any new consideration between ukraine and russia. there will be many possibilities to engage in this negotiated and process. of themajority population is russian. how do we know that this is not the will of the people? >> we know only that the prognosis is not correct. it is not as it should be. if you make important determinations you have really to ponder the pros and cons. you have to know the arguments. be a free debate on all of the options which cannot was place because the press sensitive. nobody has a right to express themselves. >> from a legal perspective, is

it legal for crimea to see from ukraine? secede from ukraine? >> people take certain decisions. international [indiscernible] it is not provide the right of this for people to secede from the country to which they belong. this is very important. it is claire that people in all freedom may express the views on its future and it is going to this or that state. they have accomplishments of freedom. according to the concert to show ukraine, this is the part of a country of a certain district. they do not have a right to

secede from the nation. people in berlin do not have the right to leave germany. it is very clear. declaredosovo independence, they were very critical of this referendum. is this a double standard? >> it is totally different. in kosovo it was a very bad situation. fuming have established their own administration so finally at the end. decided to come in their future. they voted and offered self-determination and national independence. that is not the case here. i think this parallel is erroneous.

>> thank you so much for joining us in the studio. we will keep you updated on all of the latest. for now we will keep you on other news. >> this has widened the malaysian transport. for the five countries are involved in the search operation. research the homes of the pilot and copilot after it was revealed that the communication systems were deliberately disabled. is excruciating. the frustration felt by the families of the missing passengers is clear to see. representatives try to placate them. after eight days about a single craft of ahe air f few want to listen. >> we just want our families back and we're very angry.

every day the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of flight 370 takes a new turn. malaysian authorities are not treating it as a possible hijacking. investigators are looking closely at the plane's crew including the pilots. this has been searched for clues. >> the flank recorder could have eliminated what happened in the clock it. missing jetg -- a has to be found. investigators say the plane diverted from its flight path after it dropped off the radar. it could have remained aloft for seven more hours. based on its trajectory and his last contact, to fly corridor's are possible. when going northwest. the other southwest. that means searching several thousand square kilometers. malaysia is now asking for more assistance. asking for this

including the u.s., china and france among others. we will provide other details. >> officials say without additional information on the final moments, finding this remains very difficult. >> switching gears. they have won the formula one season opener. they left the race from start to finish, crossing the line you may 25 seconds ahead. the driver was later disqualified. game featured 14 desperate to avoid relegation from germany's top-flight. they finally found their form against fellow strugglers. they dug deep thanks to a late strike.

a feminist scandal took a toll on munich. that was the question as they return to the pitch on saturday. the reigning european champions put those fears to bed. they stretched their lead run for 50 matches with a wina against. conspicuously empty. it made no difference. they put up this and managed to hold off this for most of the frantic first half. the buyers attacks were deflected by a watertight defense and some acrobatics. they found a way through just before halftime for his 17th goal of the season. he took it all in his stride. gave him something

to celebrate. he pulled one back in injury time. try to take the 24th title. crimea and have voted overwhelmingly in favor of breaking away from ukraine and joining the russian federation. they post this at 93 in favor. people have gathered to celebrate this. the white house wants russia will pay a heavy price if they go ahead with the annexation of crimea. that is all for now. please stay with us.

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