Ukrainian officials accused Russia on Tuesday of planning a fake referendum to create a pro-Moscow “people’s republic” in the southern city of Kherson on the Black Sea. After a three-day siege, the Russian army captured the port city of Kerzon on March 3; this was the first major city to be captured since Russia invaded Ukraine; Kerzon has a population of 290,000.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote on Twitter that now the Russians are eager to hold a fake referendum in the city of Kerzon to create a pseudo “people’s republic”.
He added that such referendums “will all be staged” because of “zero support from the people”.
“If they go their own way, severe sanctions against Russia will follow; the city of Kerzon belongs to Ukraine now and always will be,” Kuleba said.
Kuleba compared the incident to Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, where a referendum was held to join Russia after the deployment of troops there.
Curieba said the plan for the city of Quezon was carried out according to the “2014 script”.
Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner, wrote on Telegram that the Russian occupying forces called local lawmakers and asked them to vote for the referendum plan.
Denisova said such referendums in the occupied territories would be illegal because Ukrainian law states that any issues related to territorial changes can only be resolved through referendums.
Responsible editor: Yu Weining
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