Sham referendum in Luhansk Oblast: Occupiers claim 50% turnout in destroyed cities

ROMAN PETRENKO - SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2022, 08:58 In Luhansk Oblast, Russian occupiers are claiming that the turnout in the sham referendum has reached 50% in the cities that have been razed to the ground, such as Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk and Rubizhne. Source: Serhii Haidai, Head of the Luhansk Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Quote from Haidai: "On the first day of the so-called 'referendum', armed soldiers went door-to-door, forcing people to vote in their courtyards. Over the weekend, [soldiers] armed with machine guns are inspecting mass gatherings of people.

For example, they demand to see people's documents at markets and then send them to 'polling stations'. Meanwhile, only five persons have received accreditation as international observers and are observing what is happening on the ground.

Among them, citizens of Belarus and Cameroon. The number of people who have cast their votes has not been declared - only the percentage. The occupiers are declaring a turnout of 41% to 46% in Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk and Rubizhne, which have been razed to the ground, but they don't even have a list of people who had remained in those cities."

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Details: Haidai said that if the Russian occupiers meant 46% of the 10,000 people who remain in Sievierodonetsk, it would mean that 4,500 people - out of the 110,000 who lived there before the war - have voted.

Background:

• The Kremlin-appointed authorities in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts and the city of Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) announced on 23 September that they had started referendums on whether to join Russia.
• The Office of the President of Ukraine assured Russia and its accomplices in the occupied territories of Ukraine that sham referendums will not enable the occupiers to legitimise the seizure of Ukrainian lands.
• In Alchevsk, the Russian occupying authorities are even counting the "votes" of those who are either in captivity or have died, said Serhii Haidai, Head of the Oblast Military Administration.

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