Crimeans took to the polls on Sunday for a referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia.

Crimeans took to the polls on Sunday for a referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia.

Some 1.5 million people are called to vote on the Black Sea peninsula, which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Russians.

"This is a historic moment, everyone will live happily," Sergiy Aksyonov, the local pro-Moscow prime minister, told reporters after casting his ballot in the regional capital Simferopol.

"This is a new era," he said, after a man waving a Ukrainian flag was pushed away by security guards.

"We will celebrate this evening," Aksyonov said.

For his part, Ukraine's interim President Oleksandr Turchynov called on Crimeans to boycott the ballot, accusing Russia of engineering it as part of an invasion plan.

"The result has been pre-planned by the Kremlin as a formal justification to send in its troops and start a war that will destroy people's lives and the economic prospects for Crimea," he said.

Preliminary results were expected soon after polls close at 8:00pm (1800 GMT) and Russian flags were already being handed out in the streets in Sevastopol.

Preparations to become part of the Russian Federation -- a process that could take months -- are to begin this week if the people vote for Moscow.
Rehearsals for the big day have included a show by Cossack troops and the slogan "We are in Russia!" beamed onto the government building in Simferopol, leaving no doubt as to the expected outcome.

Pro-Russia authorities and Moscow say the referendum is an example of self-determination like Kosovo's decision to leave Serbia but Washington says the vote cannot be democratic claiming it is taking place "under the barrel of a gun".

Tensions have escalated in mostly Russian-speaking parts of eastern Ukraine ahead of the referendum.