In 1944 the Soviets forcibly exiled the Crimean Tartar people from Crimea to Central Asia under order of Joseph Stalin and they were not allowed to return for almost 50 years.

A man holds a Russian flag as he celebrates the announcement of preliminary results after the referendum at Lenin Square in the Crimean capital of Simferopol on March 16, 2014.

Some information may no longer be current. People march under a giant Russian flag during a pro-Russian rally in Simferopol, Crimea February 27, 2014.David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters ...

“The flags of the Russian Federation have been raised at all 193 military installations in Crimea,” said Gerasimov, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, adding that flag raising ceremonies ...

Since January, all vehicles in Russia must display license plates featuring the national flag — a rule extended to annexed Crimea. Many car owners on the peninsula, however, are refusing to show ...

Crimea became part of Russia within the Soviet Union until 1954, when it was handed to Ukraine, also then a Soviet Republic, by Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev, a Ukrainian.

Crimea's electorate of 1.5 million, according to a format of the ballot paper issued last week, will choose between one of two options - but both imply Russian control of the peninsula.