Russia’s Illegal Annexation of Four Ukrainian Regions Following Sham Referendums

11-10-2022

Felicia Insinger,

Europe and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defence

On 30 September 2022, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed a decree claiming to annex four Russia-occupied Ukrainian territories – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which amounts to about 15 per cent of Ukraine’s territory (RFE/RL, 2022). Days before that, between 23 and 27 September 2022, Russia held ‘‘referendums’’ in the areas, asking whether the residents wished to become part of the Russian Federation (UN News, 2022). Ukraine, with numerous governments, the United Nations, and the European Union have condemned the ‘‘referendums’’ and considered them to be illegal under international law (Al Jazeera, 2022).

The ‘‘voting’’ took place on the streets, in hastily set up improvised polling stations, and during home visits, accompanied by armed Russian forces, which made refusal to participate feeling life-threatening to residents. Residents of the so-called ‘‘Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics’’ have reported that in occupied Luhansk, ‘‘polling stations’’ were set up in the backyards of residential buildings and at entrances to markets. They said a bus would drive up and a transparent ballot box would be set up beside it: ‘‘There was no secret voting, people marked the ballots on their knees,’’ said a Luhansk resident. Yaroslav Yanushevych, head of the Kherson regional military administration, wrote on Telegram that Russian troops pressured and threatened people during the ‘‘referendums’’: ‘‘Collaborators, accompanied by armed occupiers, catch people out on the streets and use threats to force them to vote.’’ Oleksiy Koschel, Chairman of the Voters' Association of Ukraine, described how poll workers carried out the door-to-door ‘‘vote’’, which sometimes even involved voting at gunpoint: ‘‘Imagine … [f]our armed men walk into your flat. You have to vote to join Russia, at gunpoint. If you refuse or vote ‘no’, you’ll be doing it right in front of them, they can see what you put on the ballot.’’ A woman from Kherson described her experience on the second day of the ‘‘referendum’’: ‘‘We’re in hiding and intend to hide for the next three days.’’ And a man from the Zaporizhzhia region said: ‘‘We’re afraid … My uncle said that I have to open the door when they come, or the neighbours might report [me]. I will have to tick a box for Russia, or they might tear down my house’’ (Rzheutska and Shepeleva, 2022). Although this evidence is anecdotal, the presence of armed men conducting the ‘‘vote’’ goes against Russia’s insistence that it was a free and fair process (BBC News, 2022).

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors elections, has listed several reasons why the ‘‘referendums’’ would have no legal force (and thus not provide a basis for annexation or transfer of sovereignty): they do not meet international standards, are contrary to Ukrainian law, the areas are not secure, there would be no independent observers, and much of the population has fled (Walker and Sauer, 2022).

While the ‘‘annexation’’ is not recognised by the international community, Ukrainian officials have warned that it could cause more extensive conscription of local men to fight alongside the Russian army. Tatiana Stanovaya, the founder of the Russian R.Politik consultancy, said Putin would seek to ‘‘copy the Crimean model’’, referring to Russia’s annexation of the peninsula following a similar snap vote in 2014, and that ‘‘military conscription offices will then redouble their efforts to catch the defenders of the expanded Fatherland’’ (Hall and Ivanova, 2022). However, Russia, as an occupying power, remains bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which continues to protect civilians in the occupied areas (Article 47 Geneva Convention). Article 51 of the Convention states that the occupying power may not compel protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces and that no pressure or propaganda which aims at securing voluntary enlistment is permitted. If Russia, therefore, decides to conscript civilians from these areas, as it has been doing in occupied Crimea and previously occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the country will be, yet again, committing new war crimes (Gorbunova, 2022).

Sources and Further Reading:

Al Jazeera. (2022, September 30). West condemns Russia’s ‘illegal’ annexation of Ukraine provinces. Al Jazeera. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/30/west-condemns-russia-illegal-annexation-of-ukrainian-provinces.

Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (adopted 12 August  1949, entered into force 2 November 1950) 75 UNTS 135 (Geneva Convention).

Gorbunova, Y. (2022, September 30). Fictious Annexation Follows ‘Voting’ at Gunpoint. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/09/30/fictitious-annexation-follows-voting-gunpoint.

Hall, B. & Ivanova, P. (2022, September 28). Russia’s sham referendums in occupied Ukraine pave way for annexation. Financial Times. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.ft.com/content/87a4bd52-2d82-48ac-a842-cdca3ba742dd.

Rzheutska, L. & Shepeleva, A. (2022, September 28). Eastern Ukraine: Eyewitnesses speak out on sham referendums. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.dw.com/en/eastern-ukraine-eyewitnesses-speak-out-on-sham-referendums/a-63272615.

Walker, S. & Sauer, P. (2022, September 23). ‘Why bother voting’?: apathy in Ukraine amid so-called referendums. The Guardian. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/23/ukraine-referendums-held-russia-controlled-parts.