Ukraine's interim President Turchynov dubs east's referendum a 'farce'

Daily Mail: 12. May 2014
Ukraine's interim President Turchynov dubs east's referendum a 'farce'
Ukrainian Acting President and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksandr Turchynov declares that so-called referendum attended by 24 % in Luhansk region, 32 % in Donetsk region.

Secret ballot: A member of Donbass self defense units votes in a referendum on the political status of Ukraine's Donetsk Region and Lugansk Regions yesterday in Slavyansk

• Oleksandr Turchynov says vote is 'propaganda to cover up murders'
• Dontesk announced that 89.7 per cent of its citizens want to leave Ukraine
• Luhansk expected to announce 94 to 98 per cent vote in favour of secession
• East Ukraine's breakaway authorities now expected to declare independence
• Russian president Vladimir Putin still said to be considering his response
• National guard opened fire at polling station in Krasnoarmeisk, east Ukraine
• Two people were seen bloodied and lifeless in the attack's aftermath
• Russian reporter investigating vote fraud is kidnapped in east Ukraine
• Ukraine central government and the West have called the votes illegal

Ukraine's acting president today dismissed the east of the country's unofficial self-rule referendum as a farce inspired by Russia to destabilise his country.

Oleksander Turchynov said the polls, in which separatists declared an overwhelming vote for a split from Kiev, were 'propaganda to cover up murders, kidnappings and violence'.

Last night rebel leaders announced that 90 per cent of voters in the Russian-speaking Donetsk region supported secession from the rest of Ukraine.


People vote in the village of Khryashchevatoye: Oleksander Turchynov said the polls were 'nothing more than propaganda to cover up murders, kidnappings, violence and other serious crimes'

However the referendum was monitored by heavily armed militants rather than international observers, but its alleged result has already prompted separatist leaders to brand the presence of Ukrainian troops in the region 'illegal'

Separatists in Donetsk said voters approved seceding from Ukraine with 89 per cent in favour, and a similar overwhelming majority was expected to be announced in Lugansk today.

The count in Lugansk was said to show between 94 and 98 per cent in favour in a vote dubbed illegal, fraudulent and riddled with irregularities by the Kiev government and its Western backers.

At a summit of EU foreign minister today Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, led condemnation of the poll today, saying it would have 'zero credibility in the eyes of the world'.

The Netherlands' foreign minister, Frans Timmermans, said sanctions against Russia could be extended as early as today.

In Ukraine, National guardsmen descended on polling stations elsewhere to prevent people casting votes on a poll authorities had already dubbed illegal.

Responding to the outcome today, Mr Turchynov told parliament in Kiev: 'The farce that terrorist separatists call a referendum is nothing more than propaganda to cover up murders, kidnappings, violence and other serious crimes.'

He added: 'These processes are inspired by the leadership of the Russian Federation and are destructive to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

'[They] threaten the lives and welfare of citizens and have the aim of destabilising the situation in Ukraine, disrupting (May 25) presidential elections and overthrowing Ukrainian authorities.'

East Ukraine's breakaway authorities are now expected to declare independence, claim the right to take over state buildings, and form an army, ahead of seeking protection from Russia and probable annexation.

The ultimate fear in Kiev is a carve-up of these industrial regions by Moscow, in the same way as Russia retook its former territory of Crimea.

An early casualty of the new referendum results is likely to be the Ukrainian presidential election on 25 May, which the separatist authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk are determined to thwart in their regions.

Britain and other Western countries see it as essential in rebuilding Ukraine - but its entire legitimacy will be threatened if it is not a nationwide poll.

Putin had urged pro-Russian supporters to postpone the polls but today he was taking account of 'the strength of their results' in assessing his next move, according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Putin's decision 'is difficult to forecast', he said, adding that the president understood why locals had defied his call to delay the votes.

'It was difficult to heed the recommendation, even considering the Russian president's prestige. Taking into account the real combat actions, the residents had to act according to their own plan and proceeding from the actual situation,' he said.

Mr Peskov also blasted the US and EU for 'absolute folly' in criticising Russia.

'Why could the West not prevent the use of armoured personnel carriers in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and avoid the gunning down of civilians?

'They did not use their influence and they do not give a hang while Russia is blamed for everything,' he said, accusing them of staging the 'coup' to oust President Viktor Yanukovych which began the crisis.

PRISONER WRANGLE SHOWS SECURITY SERVICES RIVEN BY MISTRUST

The two men crouched in the shade of a tree. The ballot papers they were accused of forging lay on the front of their Russian-made Moskvich car, stopped and searched by Ukrainian soldiers on the outskirts of the port city of Mariupol, in the country's rebel south-east.

'This is how they did it in Crimea,' said warrant officer Timofey Rudyak, who like the other soldiers had been sent 500 miles from the capital, Kiev, to quell the uprising in the country's industrial heartland.

Officer Rudyak, 35, said the several hundred ballots, bound in white paper and almost all ticked 'Yes', had been intercepted little over an hour after voting began in a referendum on self-rule.

A Ukrainian soldier aims his rifle at an army checkpoint near Mariupol during a referendum on self-rule in the city

Reuters did not witness the initial stop-and-search, nor was this reporter allowed by the soldiers to speak to the suspects.

Whatever the truth, the scene that followed - police rebuffed, an armed standoff in the middle of a road - spoke less about possible vote fraud than the dangerous collapse in trust and order that threatens Ukraine with civil war.

Four policemen arrived, demanding to take the men away. The soldiers of the 72nd Mechanised Brigade, speaking Ukrainian to each other but Russian to the police, refused. After tense words and several phone calls, the police left.

'We don't trust them,' said Rudyak. 'When so-called peaceful citizens shoot at us from behind the backs of the police, how can we trust them any more?'

A short time later, the soldiers cocked and raised their rifles, pointing them at a white, unmarked van that had pulled up at the checkpoint. The doors opened and more guns appeared, held by masked men in mismatched black uniforms, some in sneakers and combat trousers.

They identified themselves as National Guard troops, which operate under Ukraine's interior ministry. One produced handcuffs and tried to take the suspected ballot-riggers away, but was again refused by the army.

Only when two plain-clothed officers of the Ukrainian state security service (SBU) turned up did the soldiers stand down. The evidence was filmed and photographed, before being set alight by the soldiers.

Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko, editor of National Defence magazine, said the results meant 'Goodbye Ukraine - in other words the end of a unitary state'.

'Donetsk and Lugansk republics governments must take control of the now former Ukraine-Russian border, disarm and disband Ukrainian border guards, so that Russia can without any obstacles provide financial, economical, military and technical support to the two new states,' he said.

'There is also sense in creating a no-fly zone over Donetsk and Lugansk republics for Ukrainian Air Forces- to exclude a possibility of shooting civilians from the air.'

He claimed this was the start of restoring to Moscow territory originally won by Catherine the Great, and known in tsarist times as New Russia.

'The core of future New Russia Republic was laid on 11 May,' said Korotchenko, who advices the Russian Defence Ministry.

'It is important to initiate processes of acquiring to this state the number of other regions in the South-East of Ukraine that are not wiling to live under Kiev's fascist regime.'

Bloodshed: Armed men were seen near a town hall in Krasnoarmeisk, where Ukrainian national guard opened fire on a crowd

Armed pro-Russian forces guarded the barricades on a road leading into Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine 

The deaths in Krasnoarmeisk were witnessed by a Press photographer. He saw the shooting and later saw two motionless bodies lying on the ground. Pro-Russian leader Denis Pushilin said there had been deaths but did not say how many.

Several hours earlier, guardsmen came to the town about 20 miles from the regional capital, Donetsk, and dispersed referendum voting that was taking place outside the town hall and they took control of the building.

In the evening, more guardsmen arrived in a van and a scuffle broke out with people who were gathered around the building. Then the guardsmen fired shots.

The Luhansk also conducted a referendum today, the results of which have yet to be announced.

Leaders of the votes, which is regarded as illegitimate by the central government and the West, say that sometime after the referendum, a decision will be made on whether to remain part of Ukraine, declare independence or seek to join Russia.

An armed pro-Russian activist prepares to cast his vote in the referendum called by pro-Russian rebels 

An armed pro-Russian activist waits in a queue to vote in the referendum held yesterday

Announcing the results of Donetsk, Roman Lyagin, election chief for the insurgents, said about 75 per cent of the Donetsk region's three million eligible voters cast ballots.

89.7 per cent were said to back independence, with 10.1 per cent voting no.

The preliminary result was announced just two hours after the polls closed in a paper election. No monitors were in place to verify the results.

Ukraine's central government and the West had condemned the balloting as a sham and a violation of international law.

Recently the Ukrainian government and the West have accused Russia of trying to destabilise the country or create a pretext for another invasion. 

Local residents flocked to cast their votes at this polling station in Luhansk yesterday

Russia - which annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula just days after voters there approved secession in a March referendum - rejected the accusations.

Russian president Vladimir Putin had asked the organisers of the latest referendums to delay the vote in an apparent attempt to ease the crisis. The insurgents refused.

Voting in the two regions was mostly peaceful, but marred by the Ukrainian national guard's attack.

Even before the results were announced, Ukraine's foreign ministry called the twin referendums a 'criminal farce'. The U.S. and other Western governments said they would not recognise the outcome.

Earlier in the day, the head of the referendum organisers in Donetsk said the ultimate status of the region would be discussed later and would include the possibility of secession or annexation by Russia.