2014 is when the referendum was held. A majority of Crimeans at that time (more now) were (are) ethnic Russians. Not surprising that it passed.

The nations that don't want Crimea as part of Russia are the ones who claim that the election was illegal. Same as in the Ukraine in 2004. And 2013. And dozens of other elections especially in Latin America like Hondurez, Venezuela and Colombia.

The US is ranked near the bottom of "democratic countries" with free and fair elections, yet we are constantly forcing new elections in other countries, or just overthrowing the governments. When we don't like the result we claim the election was illegal and use force to make them do it over until we get the result we want.

I'd really prefer if we kept our noses out of other countries politics and spent our time and money on our myriad internal challenges. US infrastructure is in shambles. We're constantly building bridges, schools, airports and roads in other countries while ours are falling apart. Our election system is similarly in a shambles. Why don't we let the people of Crimea handle their own elections and we work on ours?