2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine

[8][9] On 30 September 2022, Russia's president Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of Ukraine in an address to both houses of the Russian parliament.

Later, the heads of the DPR and the LPR Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik announced plans to hold referendums, but with the proviso that voting would be held after the end of the war.

[19] President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that holding referendums in the occupied territories would eliminate the possibility for negotiations for Russia.

[19] Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk added that the participation of Ukrainian citizens in these elections would be regarded as collaborationism, which is punishable by imprisonment for up to 12 years with confiscation of property.

[21][22] In parallel, on 21 September, Vladimir Putin announced mobilization in Russia, which indicated the desire of the Russian leadership to further escalate the war with Ukraine.

The preparation of referendums and the formation of a new image of Russia after the annexation of Ukrainian territories were entrusted to the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergey Kiriyenko.

Under his leadership, an image was formulated for an external audience – Russia as a "continent of freedom" for supporters of right-wing ideologies from all over the world.

[24] As Meduza reported, the organization of the referendums was handled by the Russian State Council's Administration for Ensuring Affairs under the leadership of Alexander Kharichev, a close associate of Kiriyenko.

The voting was directly supervised by Kharichev's deputy Boris Rappoport, who is considered a crisis manager and specializes in problematic election campaigns, and since 2014, together with Vladislav Surkov, he has been involved in the affairs of the DPR and the LPR.

[25] and key positions in the governments of the DPR and the LPR were appointed in preparation for the referendums by an official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vitaliy Khotsenko, and a former vice-governor of the Kurgan Oblast, Vladislav Kuznetsov.

According to the interlocutor of the publication, the Russian authorities planned to soon remove Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik and replace them with completely controlled functionaries.

[26] According to Meduza, the Russian authorities planned to hold referendums under the slogan "Together with Russia" (it appeared in the campaign in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and a forum of the same name was held in Kherson).

[25] The IMA-Consulting group, associated with the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Alexey Gromov, was responsible for the campaign preparations for the referendums.

[35] After invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia started preparations to hold referendums in occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk.

[36] On 19 September, the public chambers of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics appealed to their heads of state with a request to "immediately" hold a referendum on joining Russia.

[52] In June 2022, Stremousov, in a video message on the Telegram channel, said that the Kherson region began to prepare for a referendum on joining Russia.

[53] The referendum was going to be prepared by the pro-Putin United Russia party, but members fled the region towards the end of July after Ukrainian forces shelled the Antonivka Road Bridge.

Vladimir Rogov, a collaborator with the Russian administration, demanded Ukrainian troops leave the region "immediately," and that after the referendum "they will be considered occupiers."

[71] On 8 August 2022, Ekaterina Gubareva, deputy head of the Kherson Civilian-Military Administration announced the annexation of occupied territories of Mykolaiv Oblast.

According to her, such a decision was made in order to provide the population with social payments in the "liberated" territories, as well as to establish mobile communications and television broadcasting.

[72][73] On 13 August 2022, the head of the military-civilian administration of the Mykolaiv Oblast, Yuriy Barbashov claimed that a referendum would take place in Snihurivka to join Russia.

[79] The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) assessed that a similar referendum would have occurred in Kharkiv Oblast if not for the Ukrainian counteroffensive in September that forced Russia to retreat from most of the territory it occupied.

[84][85] According to Ukrainian journalist Serhiy Harmash, "In Kherson and the region of Zaporizhzhia, many hate Russia — but in Donetsk and Luhansk, people have had their heads filled with propaganda for the past eight years.

[87] Their announcement followed the rapid advance of the Ukrainian army in the weeks prior, defeating Russian troops in the Kharkiv direction and on the offensive in the east and south.

[102] On the first day of "voting", rallies were held in Russian cities "in support of referendums on joining Russia" in the occupied Ukrainian regions.

[103] Anonymous local residents of the cities complained that along with the "election commissions" walking around the apartments, there were military men with automatic rifles, and that "there is no secret ballot."

Head of the Luhansk Regional Military–Civil Administration Serhii Haidai said that "commissioners" threatened to break down doors, collected names of those who voted "no", and used the opportunity to identify men eligible for conscription.

[107] The government considers the referendum illegitimate,[108] and has accused Russia of coercing residents to vote, as well as busing in sympathetic voters from Crimea.

He also said that referendums organized by Russia-installed and separatist authorities would take place in large swathes of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory and that there was "no turning back".

"[166] Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not rule out the use of nuclear weapons to defend annexed Ukrainian territories.