Russia’s planned referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories are a precursor to the annexation of these lands. It is clear that these referendums will be fraudulent and will serve no purpose beyond bestowing a patina of legitimacy to Russian expansionism.
This is not the first time that Russia has organized counterfeit referendums in Ukraine. In 2014, Russian-backed separatists took control of the Donbas and Crimea and promptly organized independence referendums that showed overwhelming support to secede from Ukraine. These results were used to justify Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the establishment of two quasi-independent Russian client states in the Donbas. However, it was immediately clear that these referendums did not actually represent local beliefs.
