The head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Oleh Didenko informed that the commission “learned from the events of 2014” [2014 - the year of the beginning of Russiaʼs military aggression against Ukraine] and made a number of decisions to protect the personal data of Ukrainians and make it difficult for Russians to prepare for pseudo-referendums.
Didenko told about this in a comment to “Babel”.
"When the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, we passed a resolution closing access to the voter register," Didenko noted, adding that the State Voter Register is one of the largest and most accurate databases of Ukrainian citizens.
If you have access to it, you can get information about all voters of Ukraine.
The Russians were unable to obtain a list of people living in the occupied territories and their personal data, as was the case in Crimea. Therefore, according to Didenko, this makes it difficult to hold any pseudo-referendums.
"In July, we appealed to the states not to recognize pseudo-referendums. We also urged citizens not to participate in this and warned them of criminal liability for participating in a pseudo-referendum," Didenko added.
- The Russians plan to hold so-called "referendums" in the captured territories of Ukraine in September. Russian Media wrote about September 14, but it concerns only occupied Donbas.
- In the Kherson region, the occupiers postponed the so-called "referendum" for "security reasons”.
- The Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk reminded that participating in illegal referendums in the occupied territories will be punishable by up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.