Radio Svoboda: the occupiers planned a “referendum” in Kharkiv region for November. They wanted to draw 75% for joining the Russian Federation

The Russian authorities planned to hold a "referendum" on joining Russia in the occupied territories of the Kharkiv region in early November. According to the plan, 75% should "support" such a proposal.

Radio Svoboda writes about this with reference to the Russiansʼ "strategy" for preparing for pseudo-voting.

The document is entitled "Strategy for Holding a Referendum on the Entry of Kharkiv region into the Russian Federation." The pseudo-voting itself was planned to be held from November 1 to 7.

The document states that a total of 142,000 people should "vote", of which more than 100,000 should have voted "for". The "strategy" was developed recently, as it shows the front line as of August 24.

Among the main risks, the developers of the "strategy" indicated the lack of personnel to work in the election commissions and the pro-Ukrainian sentiment of the population.

• The Russians planned to hold "referendums" in the captured territories of Ukraine in September. Russian media wrote about September 14, but it only concerned occupied Donbas.
• In the Kherson region, the occupiers postponed the "referendum" for "security" reasons. Later, Russian publications wrote that due to the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces, the Kremlin put the issue of pseudo-voting on hold and did not yet know what to do about it.