It seems very odd to see the powers that claim to be representing democracy in the world imposing sanctions on another country because it rattifies a referendum in which there was an overwhelming majority. It seems that when it comes to it they do not really want the people to decide.
I imagine that at the back of this is a fear of what might happen if other people started to also decide what they want. All over Europe (and also China) are ethnic groups that might unilaterally decide to hold a referendum of their own and decide to redraw boundaries. Every country bordering Hungary, for instance has a substantial Hungarian minority within its boundaries. Might those people all vote to rejoin Hungary? How terrible would that be? People might actually get what they want and be able to live with people who speak their language under a government that understands them better - what a disaster!
I also imagine that there is power politics at work. The Western powers would like to wrest the whole of Ukraine out of the Russian sphere of influence and are peeved that there might be an important bit that they fail to gobble up. But do we really want Crimea to ultimately become part of the European Union if the people there do not want that? Is that how we spread democracy in the world? Is it even sensible? Would we not be asking for further trouble in the future? The European Union should include those people that want to belong to it, not those that do not.
All in all I feel very uncomfortable about what the Western governments are doing at the moment in regard to this issue. Perhaps the Russians will act in improper ways in the future, but what they have done in this matter so far appears entirely sensible and in recognition of the will of the people. Something strange and new is happening in our world when it is Russia that supports democracy and the Western powers that want to suffocate it under treaties that are now evidently anachronistic.