Putin’s sham polls
Armed thugs force Ukrainians to vote as Russia threatens nuclear ‘defence’
RUSSIA launched sham referendums yesterday across four occupied Ukrainian regions as part of a plot to stop Kyiv’s counter-attack.
Locals in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are being threatened if they refuse to take part in the ballot to join the Russian Federation.
The enforced polls have raised the spectre of nuclear strikes and further isolated Moscow on the world stage.
Once Russia can announce the occupied regions as part of its territory, Moscow can claim Kyiv’s counteroffensive is an attack on the Federation.
And in the eyes of the Kremlin, even nuclear strikes would be a justifiable escalation. President Vladimir Putin this week warned Russia would “use all the means at our disposal” to protect itself. He added: “This is not a bluff.”
Voting in the four provinces, which make up about 15% of Ukrainian territory, is due to run until Tuesday.
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk, said in the town of Starobilsk, Russian authorities banned the population from leaving the city until Tuesday. Armed groups of militia were sent door to door to coerce people to vote.
Yuriy Sobolevsky, the displaced deputy
chairman of Kherson region council, said: “The best thing for the people of Kherson would be not
to open their doors.” In Zaporizhzhia, residents reported being made to vote after armed soldiers arrived at their homes.
The referendums have been condemned by Ukraine and the West as illegitimate and choreographed.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the outcomes would have no bearing as they do not conform with Ukraine law.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Moscow would deem any attack on the four territories as aggression against Russia itself.
He warned: “Encroachment on to Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the forces of self-defence.”