{"id":182,"date":"2023-01-21T21:32:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T21:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/?p=182"},"modified":"2025-02-01T18:30:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T18:30:26","slug":"3-2-the-referendums-on-russian-occupied-annexed-territories-were-fair-legitimate-democratic-let-the-people-decide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/?p=182","title":{"rendered":"3.2 “The ‘referendums’ on Russian-occupied\/ annexed territories were fair\/ legitimate\/ democratic”; “Let the people decide!”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

True or False: FALSE<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Briefly on the background: After the 2022-invasion of Ukraine, Russian-installed leaders of four partly Russian-occupied, Ukrainian regions declared Sep. 20-22nd 2022 to hold referendums about the regions incorporating into Russia<\/a>. The so called \u2018referendums’ were carried out just some day(s) later, Sept. 23-27th 2022. The \u201cresults\u201d were later announced and followed by Russia officially declaring the regions as part of Russia (through an illegal annexation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The referendums preceding Russia\u2019s illegal annexation of the Ukrainian regions are often described as \u201csham referendums\u201d in Western media. But why is that? For a start Russia isn\u2019t very good at democracy overall<\/a>, and all that democracy entails. Anyhow, the so called referendums in eastern Ukraine must be said to be a bottom note, even in displaying some sort of Russian imitation of \u201cdemocracy\u201d. In the international community, the validity of the referendums have only been accepted by North Korea, which probably says a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the major points on why Russia\u2019s so called \u201creferendums\u201d, by no means, are legitimate or can be granted any validity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The referendums were being held on occupied territories, <\/strong>in violation of international law<\/strong><\/a>, more precisely <\/strong>the UN Charter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong>
    You may wonder why such rules exist? Probably because countries should not be able to occupy another country’s territory, stage referendums and steals its land.

    Imagine the USA starting gaining interest in a part of Mexico, eg. because of some newly discovered natural resources there. Should the USA then be able to occupy it, stage referendums whether it should be incorporated in the USA, and then steal Mexico’s perhaps most resource-rich area before the eyes of a helpless Mexican government? Probably your answer is no. One reason why such a rule exists.

    Another reason can be traced in history and how Nazi-Germany used     occupation, referendums and annexations<\/a> to expand the Third Reich.

    Another reason could simply be to make countries refrain from waging wars (of conquests) and occupying territories, and to instead have peace, law and order.

    More in-depth background\/reading on referendum as a tool for conquests:
    To Perfect the Imperfect Title: How Referenda were Historically Manipulated to Justify Territorial Conquest by Nations<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The referendums were illegal in the country they were being held, namely Ukraine.<\/strong>
    Since the referendums were being held on the territory of Ukraine, Ukrainian jurisdiction applies there and the referenda can be deemed illegal and without any legal value.

    There are examples of referendums about independence that have been carried out lawfully. In Scotland, a referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014, where the \u201cNo\u201d-side won. Meanwhile, a Catalan attempt to arrange an independence referendum in 2017 was declared unconstitutional by Spanish authorities. This shows that even if a referendum about changing a region\u2019s status can be done lawfully, it is also a matter for the country as a whole.

    Since the Russian \u201creferendums\u201d were deemed illegal, they were also widely boycotted to not give them any further legitimacy.

    Imagine yourself in the frightening event of a military force coming to your country and arranging a referendum about joining the occupying nation. Would you rush to participate in it?<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. There was a war going on in the regions in question.<\/strong>
    It says itself it\u2019s impossible to carry out fair (and safe) referendums in a war zone. How can campaigning be done? Debates, discussions, street talks? How could relevant, impartial information be conveyed? How can a legitimate voter\u2019s register be established in an ongoing war, where civil administration is gone and people are fleeing (or being lost\/killed)?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. A substantial part of the population\/electorate had fled war and occupation.<\/strong>
    A big part of the population wasn\u2019t present and couldn\u2019t vote. It doesn\u2019t take a wild guess to assume that those fleeing from war and Russian occupation to Ukraine-controlled areas or to the West were the ones who wanted to join the Russian federation the least – while the more Russian-friendly population may have stayed to a greater degree .<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The referendums were not held in the regions in their entirety – since Russia only partly controlled the regions in question.<\/strong>
    It says itself that a referendum has to be carried out in the whole geographical area, covering all the people, that it\u2019s supposed to be valid for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. No time, no room, for campaigning, open discussion and debate.<\/strong>
    In functioning democracy an election or referendum are preceded by a substantial period of campaigning. The \u201creferendums\u201d in question here were carried out 1-3 days after being declared, in occupied territories and war zone, which gave no time or room whatsoever to build up campaign organizations, organize events, debates or arrange TV debates where different sides\/opinions are displayed etc – all that is essential for a voter to acquaint herself with different arguments for and against the alternatives, the opportunities and risks, advantages and disadvantages etc. Compare e.g. the Scotland referendum with its     Better together<\/a> and Yes Scotland<\/a> campaigns.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. The (occupation) authorities were not neutral in the matter<\/strong>
    There are many accounts of how Russian occupation authorities or soldiers harassed and abused people who had (or were suspected to have) pro-Ukrainian views, like in     this example<\/a>.

    Here is an example of what kind of very     partial messag<\/a>e the occupational forces put up in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Telling from this poster it seems that the result of the so called \u201creferendum\u201d had already been decided?

    Consequently one may ask: Could similar posters showing support for remaining in Ukraine be found, in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. The collection of the votes was dubious<\/strong>
    According to personal accounts, the occupation forces     went from home to home to collect the votes<\/a>. Some other share their experience of the “referendum” in this article<\/a>. There appeared to be no voter secrecy and many other peculiarities in the voting procedures as summarized here<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. No official international observers were present<\/strong>
    No major international organization was represented to monitor the conduction of the \u201creferendums\u201d. Eg. like the OSCE or Council of Europe. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. The presented voter turnout and the results of the \u201creferendums\u201d appear unlikely, inconsistent with previous findings.<\/strong>
    While being regions at war, having millions of refugees and civil administration that must have been somehow affected by war, flight and occupation and a likely inability to present a credible voter register in a territory that isn\u2019t even fully under their control, the Russian authorities make claims of voter turnout of that exceeds what is usually recorded in time of peace – which makes these claims somewhat \u201castonishing\u201d.

    Secondly, the presented results aren\u2019t anywhere close to the results of     polls and surveys<\/a> being conducted before the occupation and referenda in question.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Summary:<\/strong> The \u201creferendums\u201d held by Russian occupying forces cannot be seen as legitimate or valid by any means. This due to it\u2019s illegal nature (according the both international and national law), the conditions under which the so called \u201creferendums\u201d were hold (ongoing war, occupation and displacement of refugees) and grave deficiencies in the implementation and format of the referendum (no room for democratic campaigning and debate, didn\u2019t include the whole territories in question, no voter secrecy, occupation force collecting votes – to mention a few).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To summarize, the word \u201creferendum\u201d cannot rightfully be used to describe the activities that Russia carried out in occupied parts of Ukraine in 2022. The \u201cso called referendums\u201d, \u201csham referendums\u201d or \u201cstaged referendums\u201d are all more appropriate descriptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    True or False: FALSE Briefly on the background: After the 2022-invasion of Ukraine, Russian-installed leaders of four partly Russian-occupied, Ukrainian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,11,34],"tags":[39,41,43,40,17,16,38,15,44,42],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-misconceptions-and-delusions","category-russian-propaganda-exposed","category-russo-ukrainian-war","tag-donbas","tag-donetsk","tag-kherson","tag-luhansk","tag-propaganda","tag-russia","tag-sham-referendum","tag-ukraine","tag-un-charter","tag-zaporizhzhia","comments-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217,"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russianpropagandaexposed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}