Crimea votes to leave Ukraine and join Russia

Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov (C) celebrates the results of Crimea's referendum. Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili

A new country for Crimea ....

Less than three weeks after Russia's Vladirmir Putin ordered troops to take control of Crimea - a referendum has been completed and secession has officially been declared. Among G7 countries, Canada was swift to respond, with Prime Minister Harper calling the referendum "illegitimate", saying it was held under an "illegal military occupation."

The Ukrainian government in Kyiv is calling up its reserve troops.

Crimea is and should remain a part of Ukraine. Discussion over.US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt

Crimea has strong ties to Russia and many of its inhabitants relish the idea of leaving Ukraine. And they appear to be the ones who turned out to vote yesterday, where they were offered a choice between re-joining Russia or pushing for greater autonomy within Ukraine. There was no option for maintaining the status quo. And it appears clear that opponents of secession largely boycotted the vote.

Listen to this short clip with an on the ground reaction from local Crimeans:

• The CBC's Derek Stoffel was in Simferopol in Crimea.

• Yulia Dorogan is an English teacher at the Goodwin Centre in Simferopol and joined us to give us a sense of how Crimea's residents feel about what's happening.

• Oleg Smirnov is the Director of the Integration and Development Center. It's an NGO that works to promote civil governance in Crimea. He is also a professor of Communication and Journalism at Taurida National University in Simferopol.

Weigh in on the Crimean referendum and its results.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Catherine Kalbfleisch and Gord Westmacott.