The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) exposed Russiaʼs plans for a pseudo-referendum on the accession of occupied Ukrainian oblasts.
This was reported by the SSU press service.
The collected array of data indicates that the Russian Federation began active preparations for the annexation of the captured eastern territories of Ukraine. The occupiers plan to use a pro-Russian organization called the "Donetsk Republic" to carry out the so-called "Manifestation of Will". Previously, it operated only in the "DPR", but now its geography is being expanded. Its name is also being changed — the most likely option is "Great Russia".
More than a thousand "activists" are already active as part of this organization, who conduct agitation among the population of the occupied territories every day. The organization also includes bloggers who help Kremlin curators reach more than 50 million viewers from Russia and eastern Ukraine with propaganda through controlled media.
And the organization also recruits people. According to SSU estimates, it has already covered more than 200 000 local residents.
In addition, the invaders plan to send more than a thousand Russian "experts" and "volunteers" to the eastern region of Ukraine to shake up the situation in their favor. According to the SSU, they should organize mass meetings, spread propaganda and set up "voting centers". In the future, they should prepare an appeal allegedly from local residents to the leadership of the occupation administration regarding "joining" the Russian Federation. The SSU already has several such documents that were intercepted.
The enemy plans to create an extensive network of "activists" in the Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts to "deploy" large-scale subversive activities if necessary.
The Security Service of Ukraine established organizers and executors and published examples of agitation. Among the interesting ones are T-shirts with the inscription "Great Russia" and a map of the Russian Federation, which includes the territories of Ukraine, Eastern Europe and American Alaska.
- In July, the mass media reported that Russia was in a hurry to hold so-called "referendums" on the annexation of the occupied territories of Ukraine by mid-September. They want to hold them until September 15, in order to then give Putin the opportunity to add them to the composition of Russia.
- In Donetsk oblast, the occupiers plan to draw 70% for Russia in the "referendum".