Soldiers escorting people armed with machine guns to the polls, impromptu banquets on city streets, army personnel going from house to house offering ballot papers for voting. The vote for the referendum in the Ukrainian Donbass regions occupied by Russian troops: Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. On the one hand, Moscow press agencies like Tass report videos and comments from people enthusiastic about joining the “Russian homeland”the Ukrainian present scenarios whose inhabitants are forced to vote. Flash News has published several videos showing the Russian military recognizable by white ribbons bound by arm or leg, escort residents to buildings where they can fill out forms.
The Russian military escorts the voters
A similar incident was documented in Energodar in the Zaporizhia region. But also the head of the Lugansk regional military administration, Serhi Haidaidescribes this referendum as: «A referendum under the muzzle of the machine guns“. Haidai tells of soldiers “offering” an apparent guarantee of the secret ballot during the “apartment by apartment” procedure. Cover yourself with cardboard“. But there were also cases where people had to vote more than once. Yuri Sobolevskyideputy governor of the Kherson regional administration tells about residents who “have been forced to vote for the whole family“. And of “electoral commissions, escorted by armed soldiers, roaming the region chasing voters who avoid them by any means”.
Election controls
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry, quoted by UNIAN, denounces that “impossible to vote against the referendum for union with Russia. Because armed men control what people write». Not only. From Kyiv they let it be known that after the vote “the Russians issue passports to the men. And they send immediate conscription to join the Federation Army ». Even Tass himself shows photos and videos of tables set up on the street, among the testimonies of people enthusiastic about the voting crowds to vote on. Without in any way guaranteeing the secrecy of the ballot.
tax | A voting desk next to the Lugansk secondary school
According to the general and deputy chiefs of the Ukrainian General Staff Oleksii Hromovthe new forces thus recruited could be sent to the Russian border service. In this way they would free their military personnel involved in covering the border with Ukraine.
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