Regardless of those technicalities, the Russian troops stationed in Crimea were not allowed to get out without permission. And even beyond that, they weren't allowed to forcefully take control of official buildings. When the referendum took place Crimea was already occupied by Russian forces.
And yes, there is overwhelming evidence that the referendum was rigged by Russia to extreme lengths. As for comparing that referendum to elections in western countries, we should start with easily verifiable facts. Elections on western countries are subject to scrutiny by NGOs, which from time to time report problems (e.g. 2000 presidential elections in Florida). In Crimea, the work of actual NGO observers (not the far-righters hand-picked by Russian occupants) was overtly sabotaged by Russian forces, and they couldn't verify anything.
Then please tell me Kafeine are these permissions granted by a legitimate government to be observed when that government is overthrown and a puppet installed by opposing geopolitical parties are sworn in on the back of a coup?
Also, NGO's couldn't trust them as far as I could throw them, after all it was Western backed NGO's which manipulated compliant anti-Russian and pro-Western interested parties in Ukraine into overthrowing a democratically elected government. NGO's these days are merely a faux non-governmental extension of governments.
Also on a parting point, I find it laughable that my challenge to molly to back his statements up is rebuked not by molly, but yourself as a "technicality", when that technicality was the crux of molly's point, one unproven which completely discredits the point molly made.
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