Yevpatoria, a resort town 60 kilometers from Crimea’s capital Simferopol, is very much split over the referendum.

Ethnic Tatars have called for a boycott of the referendum and local community leaders have been monitoring those who voted.

“I tell all the Crimean Tatars, don’t vote!” said one local leader.

A Tatar woman made it clear what she thought of the poll: “We don’t recognize this referendum, it’s not legitimate. This is an illegal referendum, we don’t want to be part of Russia, we don’t want Putin.”

But in the pro-Russian district the attitude toward the vote is the complete opposite: “We just have so much unexploited land, we can develop agriculture, we have factories, we have gas in Crimea we have a great resort. So, I don’t think we will be beggars within Russia. The beggars are those in Kyiv who took all the money from Crimea and they didn’t give anything for the development of this republic,” said a pro-Russia voter.

Sergio Cantone, euronews’ correspondent in Yevpatoria, said: “The outcome of this referendum is in no doubt; there are expectations for a massive victory for the vote to separate. And the pro-Russian population is happy and is just waiting for the result to be officially announced.”