Status: 09/23/2022 10:36 a.m
How big is the pressure on the Ukrainians in the Russian-occupied territories? Can they withstand the pseudo referendums? Many have fled.
On the outskirts of Zaporizhia there is a large white tent for refugees from the Russian-occupied territories. Here you can get food, drinks and important information. They have often endured days of torture: they were shot at, humiliated at Russian checkpoints, frisked or robbed. You are stressed and tired.
Refugees gather in the tent and receive initial information there.
Image: Andrea Beer
17-year-old Nastja has also put her head in her hands. She thought the escape would get worse: “We were told that the Russians would hold us much longer, we were stuck near the Vasilyevka checkpoint. Some wait there for a day or even three. We were lucky with five hours and were in Zaporizhia in the evening.“
Nastia comes from Henichesk on the Azov Sea in the Russian-occupied Cherson region. There and in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions, the Ukrainians are being forced to vote – as part of illegal occupation structures that Russia has set up there.
So there can’t be a real result, says Maksim Majorov from the Center for Communication and Information Security in Kyiv. If it gets to Moscow, Russia will simply annex the occupied Ukrainian territories, Majorov said.
And then there is the troubling question: if these areas are part of Russia from Russia’s perspective, are the current combat positions counted as a direct attack on supposedly Russian territory? And could Russia defend it with other means, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons?
Participation can be penalized
Whether alleged electoral commissions or alleged polling stations – Ukraine considers everything that concerns the scheduled pseudo-referendums to be illegal. Anyone who takes part in such compulsory voting or even helps to organize or finance it is a criminal offense and could be prosecuted for treason or violation of territorial integrity, among other things. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk emphasized this on Ukrainian television at the beginning of September.
Vereshchuk is responsible for the reintegration of the currently occupied areas and called on all people who are able to leave them. Anyone who accepts a Russian passport can also be sentenced to between 10 and 15 years in prison, she reminded them of the legal situation: “Anyone who makes propaganda for accepting a Russian passport can get between five and eight years. And if people force others to do so, they will they get up to 12. It’s strict, but the state has to defend itself.”
Naked fear, sheer opportunism or corrosive high treason? The lines between voluntary cooperation and deadly pressure could be fluid in the compulsory votes. Majorov explains that from Ukraine’s point of view, it is punishable if someone participates in the organization of this farce voluntarily or under duress:
Because everyone has the option not to do this. You can always say, ‘Put me in jail, I won’t do it.’ But if the occupiers go into apartments and someone is forced at gunpoint to tick a box – then from Ukraine’s point of view, ticking is not considered a crime.
Maksim Majorov in front of a screen with a picture of Putin alienated as a skull and the inscription “Racism” – a neologism composed of the words for “Russia” and “fascism”
Image: Andrea Beer
Cell phones and laptops searched
Nastia left the Cherson region shortly before the compulsory votes and wants to continue to Poland with her grandmother. Her parents stayed because of their little brother, the way out was just too dangerous. She always avoided contact with the Russian occupying forces as much as possible. But that was not possible at the checkpoints, cell phones and laptops were searched
Nastja says: “At the Vassilivka checkpoint we all had to get off the bus and our belongings were searched. We had to go through many checkpoints during the evacuation. Sometimes they just let us through, but often they asked for our passports.” Nastya was able to escape from the Russian-occupied territories, albeit at great risk. How long this would be possible after an annexation by the occupiers is uncertain at the moment.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
Pure coercion – pseudo votes in Russian-occupied areas
Andrea Beer, WDR, September 22, 2022 at 8:28 p.m
Topic overview
war in Ukraine