Polls as a mere formality, as planned?
Pending the official results, the Russian electoral commission in any case announced Tuesday evening that the "yes" was very largely in the lead in the referendums of annexation to Russia, organized in four Ukrainian regions until yesterday.
The official body thus affirmed that the "yes" won between 97 and 98% of the votes after counting 20 to 27% of the votes in the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporijjia.
Faced with the Russian press, the head of the occupation administration of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, claimed victory during this vote organized in an emergency over five days, despite the bombardments and in the presence of the Russian armed forces.
“It is already clear that the overwhelming majority of people supported leaving Ukraine and uniting with Russia,” he said of the area under his control.
For Douglas Herbert, specialist in Ukraine, these first results are “the least surprising outcome”.
“We knew it in advance, these elections are marred by fraud and are the scene of ballot box stuffing.
It is not a vote, there is no transparent counting.
»
“North Korean” results
“The results are even higher than expected, even more
puppet
.
These results are to be put on the North Korean level, on the Stalinist level.
They took place in a parallel universe”, explains the one who is also a columnist and editorialist on France 24. Regarding the conditions of the polls, the latter indicates that “the votes are forced”: “Armed men accompany the voters to the polling stations , when there are polling stations.
Residents are sometimes forced to vote directly in buildings.
»
On the sidelines of the final results, which should be known on Wednesday according to Douglas Herbert, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin assured Tuesday that these votes were aimed at "saving the local populations", Moscow justifying its invasion by accusing kyiv Nazism and to orchestrate an alleged genocide of Russian speakers.
Regarding the program for the coming days, “Putin will address both chambers of the Russian Parliament, indicating in all likelihood that, taking into account the will of the voters, the four regions concerned will proceed to their
accession
to the Russian Federation.
He will probably not use the word annexation, emphasizing the fact that it is their will, and not a forced integration.
A text should also be voted on before the Duma and the upper house of Parliament.
A formality that could be completed on Wednesday or Thursday, according to Russian agencies.
Upcoming EU “sanctions” against organizers
For his part, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kouleba swept away the value of these votes: “It will not change anything in our policy, our diplomacy and our actions in the military field.
While the European Union considers these "referendums" as "illegal", the spokesman for the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell indicated that all those who participated in their organization will be sanctioned.
Visiting kyiv on Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna agreed with these statements, saying that there would be “sanctions” after the organization of these four referendums.
“These sanctions are taken like the previous ones in a European framework, without waiting for the end of the pseudo-referendums.
Work is underway to lead to a new series of sanctions, in particular individual ones, to target those responsible for these illegal referendums,” the minister explained during a press conference.
Later that day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the referendums, saying they represented a "flagrant violation of international law".