The self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk want to join Russia as soon as possible.
Photo: Sputnik Luhansk People’s Republic/ Valery Melnikov
The card industry was faster than the Kremlin this time. Even before the official results of the referendums initiated by Moscow in eastern Ukraine became known, “decorative world maps” showing Ukraine as part of Russia were already on the shelves of a junk chain.
The Russian leadership quickly had to bury the plan to conquer all of Ukraine in the spring. The campaign towards Kyiv turned into a debacle. So now the attempt to detach at least the occupied areas in the east and south of the neighboring country from Kyiv. To ensure that nothing goes wrong in the referendums in the Zaporizhia, Cherson and Luhansk regions, the election commissions pulled out all the stops. Even before the first voting day, Ukrainian inmates of Russian prisons were “allowed” to vote on the future of their home regions. During the referendums, the mobile polling stations that went from door to door were accompanied by heavily armed soldiers. For safety, say the electoral authorities. For intimidation, observers complain.
The election results are not surprising. Between 87 and 99 percent of voters voted for their region to become independent and join Russia. And that with a turnout that is said to have been between 77 and 98 percent. Some of them tore up their Ukrainian ID cards for the cameras of Russian state television. An oversized poster reading “Forever with Russia” was unveiled at the Luhansk city hall after the official end of the referendum. On Wednesday, the heads of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasetchnik, made their way to Moscow to apply for admission to the Russian Federation, and the Russian-appointed heads of Kherson and Zaporizhia sent letters with the same request.
The EU and the Federal Republic of Germany describe the referenda as fake and illegal and will not recognize the result. Even close Moscow allies such as Kazakhstan and China recently declared that they would respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity. In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the referendums a farce and warned that if Moscow recognized them, there would be “nothing more to discuss” with Vladimir Putin. At the same time Zelenskyj demanded more weapons for his army. Like several war observers, he fears an escalation of violence in the east of the country. Because every attempt to recapture occupied areas is then evaluated by Moscow as an attack on its territory. In addition, the Russian army can then access the men in the regions and conscript them for the war. In his Telegram channel, Denis Puschilin wrote that the war would “take on a new character” after his People’s Republic joined Russia.
In Moscow, meanwhile, there seems to be no hurry to make the four Ukrainian regions Russian territory. Although it is said that President Putin wants to speak about the recognition on Friday, a special session of the Duma scheduled for September 30 has been canceled. Instead, the parliamentarians want to decide on this in the scheduled session on October 3rd and 4th. In view of the mobilization, too, “the PR effect was zero,” which is why the Kremlin decided not to rush into anything. “Everything is annexed like that. No hurry,” the news portal “Meduza” quotes a source from the presidential administration.
Another obstacle to rapid annexation is the Russian constitution. It must be changed for this, it said on Wednesday from the Federation Council. Just the day before, constitutional judge Konstantin Aranovsky caused a big bang when he resigned from office after twelve years. Aranovsky, who is considered the most liberal judge in the Constitutional Court and does not see Russia as the legal successor to the Soviet Union, resigned because of the imminent annexation. Insiders spoke to the BBC of the highest-ranking resignation since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
