It has been expected for some time that Russia will hold mock referendums in the occupied Ukrainian territories on joining the Russian Federation. The British Ministry of Defense reported today, citing intelligence sources, that plans in Donetsk are already well advanced. However, it is still unclear whether a decision in this regard has already been made in Moscow.
There are plenty of examples of how the occupiers are preparing the population for this: the issue of Russian passports, payments only in rubles, for example. The US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has now given further details. For example, the deputy head of the occupation administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said that companies in the region “try to do business in rubles only”.
The Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR also reports that nurses are being pressured to work for the occupation authorities and also receive their salary in rubles. In Luhansk, the ISW continues, Governor Serhiy Haidai reports that the occupiers are campaigning for a referendum among displaced civilians and promising to “solve all their problems.”
The British “Guardian”, in turn, spoke to people in Cherson on the phone how they assess the situation. Accordingly, they spoke of a nervous, unpredictable atmosphere in the city – and little enthusiasm for a possible referendum. The newspaper quotes a former IT employee as saying that before the war a referendum in Kherson was never an option – and now it will be “a referendum at gunpoint”. You can read the entire report here.
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