International observers at the referenda on joining Russia, which are taking place these days in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson region, note that the voting is organized at a high level, despite the short preparation time and the ongoing aggressive actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Thus, an observer from Egypt, political observer Ismail Rifaat Ibrahim, told reporters that the voting in the LPR is taking place without any violations.
In turn, an observer from Italy, editor-in-chief of Russia News, Gianfranco Vistuto, during a briefing in Donetsk, confirmed that the residents of the DPR voluntarily participate in the referendum, adding that a benevolent atmosphere reigns at the polling stations in the capital of the republic, and the process is the opposite of what say in the Western media.
“We are told about the terror that is happening here, but we see the opposite picture with our own eyes,” TASS quoted Vistuto as saying.
Military analyst Milovan Bajagich, an observer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, in an interview with the deputy head of the administration of the Kherson region Kirill Stremousov, said that thanks to the referendum, the inhabitants of the region "return to freedom."
Recall that citizens from several dozen countries, including from the list of unfriendly countries, came to observe the voting process in the liberated territories.
Representatives of Brazil, Egypt, Venezuela, Serbia, South Africa, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Abkhazia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the USA, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Latvia and a number of other states are watching the voting process.
According to the head of the CEC of the LPR, Elena Kravchenko, on the first day of the referendum, about 40 international observers worked in the republic, including from Europe and the UK.
In turn, the information center of the referendum on the entry of the DPR into Russia reported that 133 representatives of foreign states from 28 countries are watching the voting process.
Meanwhile, not everyone managed to come to the liberated territories due to difficulties in obtaining visas and transport problems.
According to the chairman of the movement “We are together with Russia” and the branch of the Russian Historical Society of the Zaporozhye region Vladimir Rogov, “there were much fewer observers” than the regional authorities had planned.
“Just a little time.
People had to get a visa to Russia to get to us.
Two dozen people simply did not have time, ”Rogov explained.
It is worth noting that the voting in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions and the monitoring process are carried out despite the shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are actively using weapons supplied by the United States and their allies.
Donetsk is still under attack from Ukrainian troops, where a kindergarten was shelled on the third day of the referendum.
In the LPR, from the American MLRS HIMARS, Nizhnyaya Duvanka, Novaya Astrakhan, Severodonetsk and Stakhanov were fired upon.
Restless in the southern regions.
Ukrainian formations tried again to strike at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, eight kamikaze drones were used for this, but Russian troops were able to intercept them outside the station.
Consequences of a HIMARS missile strike on a hotel in Kherson
In the early morning of September 25, from the American MLRS HIMARS, nationalists attacked the building of the Play Hotel by Ribas in Kherson, which housed exclusively civilians.
As a result, a public figure, a former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Alexei Zhuravko, died.
The film crew of the RT channel was also in the same hotel.
War correspondent Murad Gazdiev was not hurt.
Operator Mikhail Kondakov was under the rubble, but was not seriously injured.
The administration of the Kherson region recognized the incident as a terrorist attack.
“With incessant acts of terror, Ukrainian nationalists are trying not only to disrupt the holding of the referendum, but also to stifle freedom of speech by intimidating media representatives,” the region’s authorities said in a message posted on Telegram.
From referendum to prison
Earlier, in an interview with journalists, an observer from Italy, Marco Pata, an international lawyer and expert in the field of geopolitics, admitted that various restrictions could well be applied against his colleagues from foreign countries for being present at referendums in the Donbass and two former Ukrainian regions.
“I am a lawyer, so I will tell you that there is no law in Italy that could
impose sanctions on us (observers. -
RT ).
Although everything can be, ”said Pata.
In turn, Stephen Bruno Schaller, who came from Germany, told reporters about the negative resonance in the German media because of his mission in the liberated Zaporozhye.
In addition, Schaller reported on the pressure that the German authorities began to exert on his employer, Waldeck-Frankenberg GmbH.
Observer from Germany Stephen Bruno Schaller in Melitopol
RIA News
“I would like to emphasize that I came here as an observer as a private individual.
I do not represent any company.
Especially for the visit, I took a vacation ... I do not engage in political judgments - this is all the business of politicians, ”said Schaller.
According to the German observer, he arrived in the liberated territories voluntarily to see how the rights of civilians are observed, whether there are any manifestations of violence and cruelty.
Schaller stressed that he only wanted to get an objective picture of what is happening now.
An observer from Germany highly appreciates the organization of the referendums, taking into account the tight deadlines.
Upon his return to Germany, he intends to tell what he managed to see with his own eyes.
Sonia van den Jende, a journalist from the Netherlands, who is also an observer, found herself in a difficult situation.
According to the journalist, if she returns home, she will be in the dock, and then in prison.
In addition, the Ukrainian authorities added van den Jende to the lists of their extremist Internet portal, Peacemaker.
“I arrived in Russia when a special military operation began and visited Donbass.
And I was told that criminal prosecution and a trial awaited me at home.
Perhaps more than three years in prison await me, ”quotes the words of the Dutch TASS observer.
In an interview with RT, Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, noted that the authorities of Western states perceive extremely negatively their citizens' visits to the territories liberated by the RF Armed Forces, especially as referendum observers.
“The authorities of Western countries proceed from the fact that the presence of their citizens to observe the course of the referendums discredits the official position.
And it, as you know, consists in not recognizing the results of the people's will and the fact that people in the liberated territories vote completely voluntarily, and not at gunpoint, as they say in the West, ”says Bruter.
Members of the precinct election commission pack ballots in safe packages (DPR)
RIA News
As the expert explained, the United States and the European Union see a serious threat in the fact that information about the voluntary nature of voting by residents of territories not controlled by Kyiv may leak into their public space.
“The very fact that foreign observers were present at the referendums refutes the narrative about forced voting promoted by the Western authorities and the media,” Bruter said.
In turn, the deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, Vladimir Shapovalov, in a conversation with RT, did not rule out that foreign observers could indeed face various forms of harassment in their homeland, up to public harassment and criminal prosecution.
“The European authorities strictly ensure that polling stations in the liberated territories and in Russia are not visited by deputies and other political figures.
They regard such a visit as almost a betrayal of national interests and treason, although, in essence, we are talking about freedom of conscience and freedom of speech, ”Shapovalov emphasized.
At the same time, according to the political scientist, the US and EU authorities do not care at all about the democratic rights of their own citizens, who have become observers.
They have approximately the same attitude towards the inhabitants of the liberated territories.
“Democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of conscience are the concepts that the modern collective West is guided by very selectively.
The United States and Europe perceive the same processes in different countries through the prism of double standards.
In other words, they believe that not everyone has rights, ”Shapovalov said.
"Break Stereotypes"
Experts interviewed by RT believe that several thousand foreigners could come as observers.
However, for many people abroad, especially from Western countries, attending referendums is a big risk.
“International observers are aware that upon return they risk losing their jobs, becoming the target of attacks and even criminal prosecution.
I think they are courageous people.
Because they arrived in the war zone, where they risk becoming a victim of another terrorist shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Vladimir Bruter believes.
According to the political scientist, by shelling settlements, the Kyiv regime once again proves that there are no stop lines for it.
“Certainly, international observers are putting themselves at some risk these days,” Bruter added.
Students at a polling station during a vote in a referendum on the accession of the Zaporozhye region to Russia
RIA News
In turn, Vladimir Shapovalov believes that people who have made a conscious and strong-willed choice have become international observers in the liberated territories.
According to the political scientist, mainly anti-fascists and representatives of civil society who did not agree with the policies of their governments arrived in the Donbass and the former southern Ukrainian regions.
The main goal of their mission, according to Shapovalov, is to convey to the Western community the real picture of events, in particular, to refute the propaganda myth that Russian troops are herding civilians to the polls.
“International observers are represented primarily by intellectuals.
They act consciously and voluntarily.
These people are trying to somehow break the crazy stereotypes about referendums "at gunpoint", which, unfortunately, are common in the West.
And foreign observers see that Russian soldiers are present at the polling stations not as a threat, but to protect civilians from sabotage by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Shapovalov concluded.