http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/01/24/ex-terrorist-leader-referendum-in-crimea-was-a-farce/

[–]UkraineNataliKr[S] 18 points 11 hours ago

The guy on the right Nikolay (N) starts by saying:

N – So, why did it work in Crimea? There were three components – the people of Crimea were unanimous and took to the streets, law enforcement was fully supportive and most important, there were lawful, legitimate authorities who stood on the side of the people. And it was only the fact that these three things were there that Russia showed poltiical will (at this point Girkin starts grinning, almost ready to laugh) and little green men appeared there on the streets.

Girkin (G): Nikolay, when were you in Ukraine?

N – on the 16th during the referendum.

G – Well, I was in Crimea since the 21st of February. And you know, what you are telling me is complete hogwash. What law enforcement that took the people’s side are you talking about? Berkut wer the only ones who took the side of the people, the people, I stress, not the authorities. The rest of the law enforcement, the Interior Ministry was under the control of Kiev and executed the orders of Kiev. I saw that with my on eyes.

Yeah, they executed them without really wanting to, maybe sabotaged it a bit, and in some cases pretended to be ill and so on but they continued to execute kiev’s orders and did not execture orders from the new authorities. Furthermore, I did not see, unfortunately, any support on the part of local authorities in Simferopol where I was – I didn’t see any. There wasn’t any, the local deputies were gathered together by the resistance (oposlchentsy) to force them into the session halls to vote. Yes, I was one of the commanders of those opolchentsy, I saw it all from the inside with my own eyes.

So, two of your compenents have nothing to do with it. As they had been subordinate to Kiev, they contineud to be subordinate, also with little enthusiasm, and some sabotage, they had a lot of concerns, I personally was in negotiations with the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet. I started them. And moreover, the majority of units remained loyal to kiev and left the territory of Crimea.

N – But still, the Crimean parliament got together and voted and Aksyonov became prime minister. and the same thing happened in Sevastopol. Question: if you helped get those decisions made both in Crimea and Sevastopol, why didn’t you do the same in the Donbas? Why didn’t the Donetsk or Lugansk regional councils get together and vote for their own representative, a legitimate one, voting in full by all the deputies? How come that didn’t happen?

G – Because on the outskirts or Simfereopol and in Sevastopol itself, there were not, or rather there were, Russian troops and there was hope that they would be supportive. Believe me, if there had been armoured personnel carriers in Lugansk and Donetsk with marines – Russians – the same thing would have happened.

Moreover, and I stress this, the same thing would have happened in Kharkiv, Nikolayev, Odessa and everywhere. The only thing that you mentioend that was missing, but that was there in Crimea, was the presence of Russian troops supporting the people’s authority. If there had been that support in other regions, there would have been the same, bloodless, resounding victory like in Crimea.