Conducting “referendums” at gunpoint is a violation of Ukrainian legislation and international law. Neither Ukraine nor any other country will recognize the results of such “voting”. Any fake “referendums” in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories are legally null and void and have no lawful consequences.
Russian media is spreading a manipulative message claiming that Zaporizhzhia and Kherson authorities have allegedly begun “active preparations for a referendum on joining Russia”. To create disinformation, Russian media latched onto statements made by Kremlin proteges, traitors, and collaborators, whom they refer to as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson “authorities”. According to the Russian media articles, the planned referendums in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories “will be held according to all standards, like in Crimea”.
Russian media disseminated a statement by Vladimir Rogov, a collaborator and mouthpiece of Russian propaganda, who has nothing to do withUkrainian state authorities, as the official view of t “Zaporizhzhia authorities”. Rogov fled to Russia in 2014 and only appeared in the Zaporizhzhia oblast in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On March 29, 2022, the Ukrainian National Police started criminal proceedings against Rogov for his collaborative activities with the occupying Russian forces.
A similar statement about the “referendum” in the Kherson region was made by Yekaterina Gubareva, who has openly cooperated with the Russian occupants. A native of Kakhovka, the collaborator Gubareva has been building a “political career” as part of a terrorist group in the temporarily occupied part of Donetsk region since 2014. In 2018 she disappeared from view. In June 2022, Gubareva, a pro-Kremlin puppet, reappeared in the Russian propaganda space as an “authority” representing the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson oblast. Since 2014 Gubareva has been on the sanctions lists of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries. Gubareva is also on a Ukrainian law enforcement wanted list for establishing a terrorist organization and financing terrorism.
That is why the pronouncements of collaborators and state traitors in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions have no factual or legal basis.
No country in the world recognizes Russian pseudo-referendums such as the “referendum” in Crimea in 2014, which was held at gunpoint. European Union representatives said back in May that the EU would not recognize any pseudo-referendums that Russia would try to hold in temporarily seized Ukrainian cities. The so-called voting, as well as attempts to proclaim new “people’s republics” or “joining” Russia would be considered illegitimate.
On 19 July, US Nationa Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said that with its “referendums” Russia is laying the foundation for the annexation of Ukrainian territory, which is absolutely illegal from the standpoint of international law. Kirby stressed that the U.S. would not recognize Russia’s sham “referendums” at gunpoint and would also hold Russia accountable.
“So what are the implications? At the start of the year, Russia told the world that it was not planning to invade Ukraine, and now we’re expected to believe that they’re not going to plan to annex Ukrainian territory. Annexation by force would be a gross violation of the U.N. Charter, and we will not allow it to go unchallenged or unpunished. We will continue to provide Ukraine with historic levels of security assistance” Kirby said.
On July 15, the Ukrainian Central Election Commission stated that Russian pseudo-referendums on Ukrainian territory are inadmissible. The CEC stressed that all Russia’s attempts to legalize its “control” over a part of Ukrainian territory are a gross violation of state sovereignty and Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Any fake “referendums” on the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories are legally null and void and have no juridical consequences. Under wartime conditions in Ukraine it is forbidden to hold any election, amend legislation or the Constitution, and to hold referendums (Article 19 of the Law on the legal regime of martial law). That is why democratic states will never recognize the results of Russia’s farce in the occupied Ukrainian territories.
Ukraine has repeatedly stressed that it does not conduct trade in its territories and the Ukrainian military will return all regions seized by Russia to Ukrainian control. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strongly rejects any “possibilities” of giving Russia a part of the occupied territories. According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine will not “accept so-called difficult compromises by giving up territory in exchange for peace”. Also on July 14, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, reported on the active advance of Ukrainian defenders in the Kherson direction.
