Russia orchestrates referendums in occupied parts of Ukraine in a move to bring back the Russian Empire, with gross violations of international law and war crimes.
The referendums targeting to seize the regions of Ukraine that Russia occupied by armed invasion are held on September 23-27. Russian propaganda claims these referendums are a “milestone event”, as “Russian people are coming back to Russia”. With sham referendums still under way, the Kremlin has already voiced the preliminary outcome. Moscow is going to announce that 87 – 97% of people, depending on the region, allegedly want to join Russia. That way, Russia is committing a crime under international law and sets a dangerous precedent, as any comparable situation might be likely elsewhere in the world.
Russia is practically repeating the scenario of Crimea referendum in 2014, as it is practicing the scenario of capturing new parts of sovereign states. With lack of firm action in response to the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has approached the scenario last implemented in Europe by Hitler in the 1930s. That is why Russia should be punished for orchestrating sham referendums.
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If successful, the Kremlin will consider Russia’s territorial expansion as an effective strategy to revivethe Soviet Union / Russian Empire, as it may cover the countries that used to be its parts.
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Voting on sham referendums is going through errors and grave violations. Armed soldiers, for example, visit people at home, voting takes place in parks and at the entrances. To increase the turnout, the Russian troops go from house to house and force people to vote, threatening in case they refuse.
The occupation authorities put moral pressure and threats to make people come and vote.
Europe cannot ignore another crime that Russia is committing, there should be a response and another package of sanctions. Russia sets a pretext for such destructive scenarios to repeat throughout the world, especially in the regions where separatist trends are strong.
Some sources close to the Russian Security Council say that analysts advised Putin to give up some occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions back in mid-August, and refuse to hold sham referendums until January 1, 2023, including the Donbas region. Those preordained referendums will pose impact on Russia itself, triggering major political crisis, the Russian Security Council analysts claim.With referendum results not recognized by the West, for sure, nor by Russian allies – Belarus, Kazakhstan and Serbia, Russia is going to lose its internationally recognized borders, if it annexes the occupied regions.
