Mr. Meshkov, 48, believes that he can avoid hostilities and has toned down his oratory on unification with Russia. "No one is talking about separating from Ukraine," he now says, advocating a step-by-step reintegration with Russia, starting with establishment of a Crimean central bank and a gradual return to the use of the Russian ruble.

Mr. Meshkov also believes that his proposed referendum for "an independent Crimea in union with other states" is not secessionist. "This is a problem for Ukraine's constitutional court," he said, adding that Mr. Kravchuk and his Government "do not have the right to overrule us."

Beyond heightened tensions with Kiev, Mr. Meshkov must also cope with political terrorism and anxious minorities.

Since November six political leaders have been killed. Mr. Meshkov himself was the victim of a recent attack. He moves about publicly only with two bodyguards armed with Kalashnikov automatic machine guns.

The Tatars in Crimea, a vocal minority numbering some 300,000, are refusing to recognize the presidential vote and say they will protest through civil disobedience. The Tatars are returning from remote parts of the former Soviet Union to their homes here, from which they were expelled by Stalin in World War II for supposedly collaborating with the Nazis.

Ethnic Ukrainians, who make up about 700,000 of Crimea's 2.5 million people, are nervous, too. Ukrainian parties boycotted today's elections.

"I also want to live better, but I don't want a civil war," said Alla P. Ivanova, 45, an ethnic Ukrainian. "The stability we have now satisfies me."