Mariupol residents threatened with dismissal if they fail to vote
ROMAN PETRENKO – SATURDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2022, 15:52
Russian occupation authorities are forcing residents of the city of Mariupol (Donetsk Oblast) to vote in the sham referendum they are holding in the region, threatening them with dismissal and loss of wages if they fail to vote.
Source: Petro Andriushchenko, Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol, on Telegram
Quote from Andriushchenko: "Since this morning, people are being forced to vote.
'Local workers were met at their workplaces by ‘mobile brigades’ who issued an ultimatum: either vote or lose your job and your wages."
Details: Andriushchenko said that a significant number of people are trying to avoid voting, for example, by leaving the city and heading for the coastal areas of the Sea of Azov.
Background:
- The Kremlin-appointed authorities in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts and the city of Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) announced on 23 September that they had started referendums on merging the captured territories of Ukraine joining Russia.
- The Office of the President of Ukraine assured Russia and its accomplices in the occupied territories of Ukraine that sham referendums will not allow the occupiers to legitimise the seizure of Ukrainian lands.
- In Alchevsk, the Russian occupying authorities take into account even the "votes" of those who are either in captivity or have died, as Serhii Haidai, Head of the Oblast Military Administration, said.
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