Bogus referendums before the end: Russia reports absurdly high voter turnout – annexation on Friday?

Created: 09/27/2022, 11:15 am

By: Felix Durach

The Russian mock referendums in Ukraine end on Tuesday.

The result should already be known and will be announced on Friday.

The news ticker.

• Sham

  referendums in

  Ukraine

  : Russia reports an absurdly high turnout in referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories.

• The outcome

  of the

  Ukraine referendums

  has long been clear: According to London, Putin could soon announce the annexation of the occupied territories.

• This

  news ticker

  on

  diplomacy in the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

Moscow – A new phase in the Ukraine war could begin this week.

On Tuesday (September 27) residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Donbass, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia still have the opportunity to vote for a possible annexation of the regions by Russia.

The referendums are intended to expand Russian territory and give Russia's ruler Vladimir Putin more options for the further course of the war.

Sham referendums in Ukraine – Russia reports absurdly high voter turnout

However, their holding is becoming more and more of a farce.

An annexation of the territories contrary to international law would not be recognized by the western states anyway and the outcome of the referendums is anything but open.

This is also shown by the reports of the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Accordingly, the Russian officials announced on Monday that enough votes had already been cast in all four referendums to declare the referendums valid.

A man casts his ballot at a polling station in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol during Russia's referendums.

© STRINGER/AFP

One day before the polling stations closed, more than 50 percent of the population took part in the votes.

The ISW describes the turnout figures as "manifestly falsified".

That would be based on the fact that it is currently difficult to estimate how many Ukrainians who are eligible to vote are still in the occupied territories.

In the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, voter turnout is said to have already exceeded 80 percent on Tuesday.

The outcome of Ukraine referendums has long been clear - Putin could announce annexation on Friday

Here, too, the ISW assumes that the participation would be significantly lower even with free votes.

In the Ukrainian presidential elections, the nationwide voter turnout was only 62.8 percent.

Vladimir Saldo, the head of the occupation administration in the Kherson region, also announced that the votes cast so far would already be sufficient for a pro-Russia referendum result.

The British Ministry of Defense already expects Putin to officially announce the annexation of the territories in a speech to the Russian parliament on Friday (September 30).

The ministry announced this in its daily Ukraine update on Twitter.

Then Putin could start conscripting Ukrainian citizens in the areas for Russian military service.

Then they would have to fight against Ukrainian troops in the Ukraine, according to the analysis of the ISW.

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Russia wants to get support from the population with mock referendums

According to British secret services, the Russian leadership also wants to use the expected annexation of Ukrainian areas to justify the war of aggression in front of its own population.

Any announcement of annexation of the territories will serve to justify Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine and aim to solidify patriotic support for the conflict, the report said.

However, the British intelligence services assume that the Russians will not support Putin's plans in the way the Kremlin boss had hoped.

The recent partial mobilization of Russian reservists and the increasing knowledge about the setbacks in Ukraine are likely to cloud approval significantly, it said.