Pro-Russian separatists from Ukraine’s Lugansk and Donetsk regions claim that from this Friday and for five days they will have everything ready to support integration with Russia.
The Election Commission of the Republic of Lugansk said it is “100% ready to hold the referendum on integration in Russia”.
“All ballots are already in the polling stations,” the Central Election Commission of the Lugansk Separatists (CEC) reported on its Telegram messaging channel.
The CEC of the southern Kherson region also printed 750,000 ballots, the same number of registered citizens, according to the pro-Russian government.
The polls will open at 08:00 (06:00, in Lisbon), although it is still unclear how voting will proceed in light of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
The vote will last for five days, from September 23 to 27, although the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, has assured that it will only be possible to vote in traditional schools for one day.
For security reasons, voters will exercise their right to vote at home and in designated public spaces on the remaining days of the election.
The president of the CEC of Russia, Ella Pamfilova, assured today that she will do everything possible to allow the inhabitants of the occupied regions on Russian territory to participate in the elections.
Schools have been opened in several Russian regions for those who want to vote in the referendums, which will also be held in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporijia, and in Russian-controlled towns in the Mykolaiv region.
Russia supported the referenda, although the military controls just over half of the Donetsk and Zaporijia regions and virtually all of Lugansk and Kherson.
Pro-Russians have denounced that Ukraine, which does not recognize the legitimacy of the referenda, will try to break off their celebration.
Ukraine has accused Russian security forces of manipulating voter lists in the occupied territories and of persecuting and kidnapping civilians loyal to Kiev.
According to analysts, the Kremlin will accelerate the process of recognizing Donbass and the occupied territories of southern Ukraine as part of the Russian Federation, as it did in 2014 with the illegal annexation of Crimea.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said today he is “deeply concerned” about Moscow’s plans to hold referendums starting Friday on the accession of Ukrainian territories to the Russian Federation.
According to the secretary-general, “any annexation of the territory of one state by another state as a result of the threat or use of force is a violation of the UN Charter and international law”.
Guterres’ position follows a Wednesday speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he announced the mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine, held referendums for the annexation of Ukrainian territories and pledged to use “all means at their disposal” to protect the country, in an allusion to nuclear weapons, adding: “this is not a bluff”.
Source: DN
