Insight - How the separatists delivered Crimea to Moscow

Armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, march outside an Ukrainian military base in the village of Perevalnoye, near the Crimean city of Simferopol, March 12, 2014. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Within a week of its building being taken over by armed gunmen last month, the regional parliament in Crimea was voting in favour of the Ukrainian region becoming part of Russia.

How that was achieved under the leadership of Sergei Aksyonov, 41, a Russian separatist whose political party won 4 percent of the vote at the parliamentary election in 2010, was a master class in vote rigging and intimidation, according to several opposition lawmakers.