Tuesday, the last of five days of "referendums" in the occupied territories of eastern and southern Ukraine on annexation to Russia, saw a peculiar pairing of haste and delay.

"Results" were presented extremely quickly.

In the “Donetsk People's Republic”, for example, “voting” was to take place until 8 p.m., but around four hours earlier, “98.27 percent” had been reported as “approving” for joining Russia.

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

  • Follow I follow

In the neighboring Luhansk separatist entity it should be "97.79 percent", in the occupied parts of the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia "97.63 percent" and "98.19 percent", respectively.

It was added in each case that the "ballot papers" had only partially been "counted".

But the direction was clear - as clear as it had been before the "referendums" began, given the presence of masked gunmen who went door-to-door to collect "votes" and the absence of much of the Ukrainian population population also had to stay.

Russian flags and portraits of the Russian President have been in abundance in the occupied area for some time anyway.

Threat of "the most terrible weapon"

Vladimir Putin said when he attacked Ukraine on February 24 that Russia was not planning to occupy Ukrainian territory;

but in June he had openly followed in the footsteps of Tsar Peter the Great and professed to "take back" territory and "strengthen" Russia.

At the end of April, the exiled Russian news portal "Medusa" reported that Russia wanted to annex the conquered areas, and that "referendums" were to be held in May.

Later the beginning of September was mentioned, then the beginning of November;

the fact that a "vote" was already taken in September was obviously due to the successful Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Because now the annexation and the future treatment of the areas as parts of Russia are openly presented as a means to secure the conquests, also with reference to Russia's nuclear arsenal.

Putin's deputy on the National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, again threatened to use "the most terrible weapon against the Ukrainian regime" on Tuesday, adding that even then NATO would not interfere: "The transatlantic and European demagogues have no intention of using a perish in the nuclear apocalypse.

Therefore, they will swallow the use of any weapon in the current conflict.”

However, Putin, who is said to be on vacation at the moment, seems to want to give himself a little more time.

At the end of last week, state news agencies said that after the "referendums" the two chambers of the Russian parliament would examine, i.e. approve, the subsequent draft laws this Wednesday and Thursday.

Putin could then have carried out the annexation on Friday.

A delay is now becoming apparent: the annexation will not be an issue in the Federation Council, the upper house, until next Tuesday.

The reason should be the excitement about the mobilization last Wednesday.

According to information from the neighboring country on Tuesday, around 98,000 Russians have entered Kazakhstan alone since then, while 64,000 Russians have left the country.

Thousands of arrivals are also reported from Finland and Georgia.

Even Putin's spokesman has admitted "violations" in the mobilization.

Law enforcement officials reported Tuesday that despite Putin's promises, "mobilized" Russians were being sent straight to the front lines without preparation.

Dissatisfaction was voiced during protests, particularly in Dagestan.