Russia 'will fix' Crimea referendum, says Tatar leader

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The Crimean Tatar leader promoting a boycott of Sunday's referendum on transferring the Ukrainian region to Russian rule is sure the Kremlin will rig the vote and appealed to the outside world to protect his once persecuted community.

"The result has already been decided by Moscow," Refat Chubarov told Reuters in an interview on Monday in the Crimean capital Simferopol, where he heads the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, a Ukrainian public body that represents some 12 percent of the Black Sea peninsula's two million people.