The Referenda conducted by Russia and the governments of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Eastern Ukraine as well as in Kherson and Zaporizhia regions were monitored by international observers from Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Brazil, Egypt, Colombia, South Africa, India, and France.
But referendum voters were attacked by the West and shelled by Ukrainian forces, such is their devotion to democracy and the votes of Ukrainians. Supporting a President who banned the main opposition party and imprisoned its leader, made lists of journalists and other “enemies” (including Roger Waters of “Pink Floyd”!) many of whom were subsequently murdered and has now banned the last remaining opposition party, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, the shelling of voters is certainly consistent! That makes 12 banned parties in what the Biden Mad House calls a Democracy!
The banned parties and “enemies of Ukraine” were accused of supporting the Minsk Agreements (2015), sponsored by Germany and France and recognized by the United Nations Security Council (resolution 2202).” Minsk I and II would have led to devolution of power to Eastern Ukraine (just as the British parliament granted devolved powers to Wales and Scotland – without bombing them!). But the Kiev Government would not implement the Agreement. NATO/EU repeatedly refer to votes in the UN on Ukraine but ignore the arrogant dismissal of the UN approved Minsk Agreements by their protege Zelensky.
In these referenda Ukrainian refugees scattered across Russia were also able to vote at dozens of polling stations, including in Crimea. The results of the referenda were:
- Donetsk People’s Republic: Turnout 97.51%, and 99.23% voted for the integration of the Republic into the Russian Federation.
- Luhansk PR: Turnout 92.6%, and 98.42% voted for the integration of the Republic into the Russian Federation.
- Kherson region: 76.86% turnout, and 87.05% voted for the integration of the region into the Russian Federation.
- Zaporizhia region: 85.4% turnout, with 93.11% voting in favour of the region’s integration into the Russian Federation.
Modli Kulikani, Chairman of the international relations subcommittee of the African National Congress Youth League:
We found that most people in Zaporozhye couldn’t wait to express themselves because many times the elites spoke for these people. The most important thing for us was to understand what people really wanted. We can say that the referendum was free and fair.
William Parra, an independent journalist from Colombia,
We expect peace and freedom for these people. The most important thing here is to call on the international community to respect their choices,” he stated.
Purnima Anand, an international observer from India.
We support this transparent referendum in our difficult times. We need to understand the pain that people in eastern Ukraine are experiencing. I think the UN Security Council and Russia will come to an agreement in the near future.
Those in the West who question the voting can hardly claim democratic legitimacy for their own elections, disfigured by postal voting fraud, corrupted voting machines, vote harvesting and dead voters (21,000 dead voters had to be removed from the Pennsylvania register – AFTER the 2020 US Presidential election!)
The overwhelming votes for joining Russia should be no surprise given the votes for the Ukrainian Russian choice, President Yanukovic, in the 2010 presidential elections (which were recognised by the West). Yanukovic was later overthrown by a western backed and financed coup in 2014. The map shows that the areas coloured red had votes of over 75% for Yanukovic and the areas coloured orange between 50% and 74%. The areas now integrated into the Russian Federation are the 4 most easterly regions (in 2022) two red, two orange, plus Crimea (integrated since 2014)
It is time to look again at this 2016 post of mine http://freenations.net/russians-cossacks-british-built-eastern-ukraine/ showing that eastern Ukraine was never really “Ukrainian” in any ethnic sense, although it became (thanks to Cossack and Russian workers and even two great British industrialists!) Ukraine’s industrial heartland. Just as Scotland was never English, the U.K. Government knows it cannot keep Scotland if they vote to leave “taking their land with them” – but claims Russians can’t do the same in The Donbas. And the Scots have not suffered years of blatant ethnic persecution, political attacks, bombing and shelling as have the people of Eastern Ukraine – mainly at the hands of openly Nazi militias (trained by the British and Americans).
TWO BRITISH INDUSTRIALISTS
The role of the two British industrialists John James Hughes and Charles Gascoigne in creating The Donbas is interesting:
During the 1870s, Hughes’s company built collieries, iron works and a factory to produce railway-lines. Hughes personally provided a hospital, schools, bath houses, tea rooms and a fire brigade. Not surprisingly, the subsequent town was named “Hughesovka” (Yuzovka). Today it is called Donetsk.
The effective founder of the city of Luhansk, that other main centre of the East Ukrainian uprising against Kiev, was the British industrialist Charles Gascoigne (called Karl Gaskoin in Russia) who founded an iron foundry there in 1795. He lived in Russia for 20 years.
