Russia wants to derive Ukraine annexations from the "referendums" - Why they were illegal

Created: 09/30/2022Updated: 09/30/2022 09:21

By: Stephanie Munk

Russia wants to declare parts of Ukraine Russian territory in a referendum.

The votes are not legal - for several reasons.

Moscow - Russia's President Vladimir Putin wants to create facts in occupied areas of Ukraine - and at the same time further escalate the Ukraine war: On Friday, September 30, Russia wants to annex the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Cherson.

Previously, mock referendums had started in four regions of Ukraine.

been.

And ended with supposedly almost 100 percent approval.

What Putin wants to say in his “comprehensive speech”, which has also been announced for Friday, was initially open.

However, it is already clear that Russia's territorial annexations will hardly be heard: The West in particular considers the previous referendums to be illegal.

"Referendums" in eastern Ukraine are internationally condemned as illegal - for several reasons

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for example, had sharply criticized the "referendums" in the UN Security Council.

"We cannot and will not allow Putin to get away with this," he said.

Michael Roth, chairman of the federal government's foreign affairs committee, spoke in the ZDF morning magazine about a "perverse land grab" and a "breach of international law" that the West would not accept.

He is not the only one with this opinion: Many states condemn the so-called referendums as illegal - and rightly so.

At least three reasons suggest that the so-called referendums are not compatible with international law.

• Violation of Ukrainian law:

  The so-called referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia are not compatible with Ukrainian law.

  According to Article 73 of the Ukrainian constitution - which can be read in a translation of the constitution on vererfassungen.net - "issues of changes in the territory of Ukraine will be decided exclusively by an all-Ukrainian referendum".

  The four regions are therefore not allowed to vote on a possible annexation to Russia on their own.

  International law expert Stefan Talmon also emphasized to

  tagesschau.de

  : "A referendum may only be carried out by Ukraine, i.e. the Ukrainian government."

• Carrying out the “referendums”:

  The way in which the referenda are carried out in the partially occupied territories does not correspond to democratic principles.

  Occupation forces deployed by Moscow only announced it on Tuesday, September 20.

  Just three days later they start at high speed.

  There is no time for public debate, constituency shaping and independent scrutiny.

  Instead, pro-Russian officials go door-to-door, showing residents ballots to vote on annexation to Russia.

  A free, voluntary and independent vote is hardly given.

  Only on Tuesday - the last day of voting - there should be a vote in polling stations.

• Voting under martial law:

  As international rights expert Maximilian Bertamini from Ruhr-Uni Bochum emphasized in the ARD program “Tagesschau”, a referendum under martial law is contrary to international law.

  The affected areas are under the military control of the Russian occupiers, and many residents have already fled.

  According to the expert, it is therefore a "perversion" of what is actually a legitimate instrument of peoples' right to self-determination.

  Rather, Russia is pushing referendums "to consolidate territorial gains in the Ukraine war."

The fact that the sham referendums were not a free, independent decision by the Ukrainian residents also shows that Russia left no doubt about the expected result: "Donbass is returning home," triumphed the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Puschilin - three days before voting even began.

Election workers with mobile voting boxes for voting on the front doors leave the embassy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in Moscow.

© Alexander Nemenov/AFP

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Putin apparently wanted to create facts with the sham referendums and declare the Ukrainian areas to be Russian land.

Russia could then interpret Ukrainian attacks in these areas as an attack on Russian territory - and react accordingly.

The annexation of the new territories would give Russia the opportunity to use "all its forces for self-defense," former President Dmitry Medvedev wrote in his Telegram channel. 

Putin himself declared: "If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will definitely use all available means to protect Russia and our people." This can be understood as an indirect threat to Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Bogus referendums mean that a negotiated solution to the Ukraine war is a long way off

If the affected areas were also declared Russian, a negotiated solution to the Ukraine war might be a long way off.

Both Ukraine and its international partners have repeatedly made it clear that they would not accept Ukraine's territorial losses as a result of the war or a "peace dictated by Putin".

The situation in the Ukraine war is thus becoming even more complicated and unsolvable - a "point of no return" that Putin is probably hoping for, as ZDF wrote in an analysis.