Monkey referendums from Russia’s war manual: First Crimea, Donbass and now Kherson

Russian troops have taken control of a council in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson as they prepare to conduct a poll on the future of the wider region, urging people to vote for its “independence”. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the plan a “fake referendum.”

It’s a move straight out of Russia’s war manual. A similar referendum was held in Crimea in 2014, giving the pretext for the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula by Russia a few days later.

The UN General Assembly declared the referendum in Crimea invalid. Western countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, have also declared annexation and the referendum illegal.

Taking control of them, the Russian-backed separatists held their own referendums in 2014, after declaring two regions in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine independent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognize these two entities – the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – as independent – was seen as the kick-off in Russia’s war against Ukraine in late February.

Another Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia in Georgia has also announced plans to hold a referendum on joining Russia. Georgia said such a move was “unacceptable”.

Following the same scenario, Russia is now calling for the Kherson region to become “the Kherson People’s Republic”.

Hersonissos is a strategically important city at the entrance to the Black Sea with a population of almost 300,000. Its citizens continued to defy Russia by organizing demonstrations and marches even after the occupation of the city center by the occupying forces.

Zelensky hails people’s refusal to support Russian forces: “People [στις κατεχόμενες πόλεις] showed their attitude towards the occupiers with their protest; [έδειξαν] “Ukraine will definitely win,” Zelensky said in a video overnight speech Monday. “Even if they try, it will be as shameful as anything else that was ‘created’ by Moscow to support the occupation of Ukraine.”

Russian forces have occupied the Kherson area since the first weeks of the war, but, according to Kherson regional MP Yuri Sobolevsky, by Monday “allowed” the town hall to operate with “reduced force” under Ukrainian control.

This is no longer the case. Kherson Mayor Igor Kolikhaev said on his Facebook page that “gunmen entered the Kherson City Council building, took the keys and replaced our guards with their own.”