At around 23:00 local time, Crimea was formally reannexed into the Russian Federation as a federal subject.[38] All of the regional capitals – Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, and Kherson – observed the vote; however, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts did not. Several witnesses and journalists claimed that the ballot papers were tampered with. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers stated that they had not seen any violations.[39]
