DHAKA: Voting got underway in Crimea on Sunday as the inhabitants of this Ukrainian region began to cast their ballots in a referendum aimed at deciding whether the peninsula leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia.

European leaders and US president Barack Obama have dismissed the vote, which has been organised by Crimea’s pro-Russian authorities at short notice, as illegitimate, saying it would violate Ukraine’s constitution.

The Straits Times publishes this report.

BDST: 1338 HRS, MAR 16, 2014