Pro-Russian separatists hold referendum in eastern Ukraine
By JAMES MARSON in Donestsk, Ukraine,
PHILIP SHISHKIN in Mariupol and ALAN CULLISON in Kiev
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine hold referendum on independence.Armed pro-Russian activists stands guard near ballot boxes in Donetsk.
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine appeared to be on track to declare victory in a secession referendum Sunday that Kiev and the West called illegal and riddled with irregularities.
The vote ratchets up tensions between the Kremlin, which may recognize the referendum, and the nascent government in Kiev, which is struggling to regain control of the two provinces that it accuses Moscow of destabilizing through support of rebels.
Long lines at some polling stations suggested that weeks of instability and violence in the region had helped turn simmering anger against Kiev into open defiance and separatism that polls showed barely existed earlier this year.
Amid an absence of electoral observers and a heavy presence of separatist gunmen patrolling the streets, the government in Kiev said the results of the vote were certain to be rigged.
Pro-unity activists said that many opponents of splitting from Ukraine, who recent polls had shown were in the majority, simply stayed at home and that long lines were caused by a restricted number of voting stations.
In the coastal city of Mariupol, which was the scene of deadly clashes last week between separatists and Ukrainian soldiers, there were only four stations. Thousands of people turned out to join lines that stretched for city blocks. Some residents brought lawn chairs to rest their legs as they waited.
Separatist leaders said they had opened more than 1,500 polling stations in the Donetsk region.
One Donetsk electoral official, Mikhail Samolenko, said Sunday there were no real safeguards to keep people from voting several times. But that didn't matter, he said, "because everyone is voting yes" for independence. Separatists said they might release results as early as Sunday evening.
Close up screen grab from video footage showing woman (above) and man (below) dropping two ballots into voting box. (referendum Donetsk, May 11th)
n Kiev, the government dismissed the voting Sunday as a sham. "Factually speaking, no 'referendum' is being held. It is nothing more than an information campaign to cover up crimes," said presidential administration chief Serhiy Pashinsky at a briefing.
Nevertheless, separatists are expected to use the vote to declare a de facto divorce from Ukraine. That could lead to a descent into international isolation akin to the Russian-backed breakaway regions in Moldova and Georgia.
Denis Pushilin, a separatist leaders in Donetsk, said that after the result is declared, "it is essential to form state and military authorities in the shortest possible time."
Leaders of so called "Donetsk Republic"
He told reporters that all military units on the territory would be declared illegal occupiers after the referendum result was announced, Interfax news agency reported.
The West accuses Russia of fanning separatism and supporting such breakaway regions to weaken Georgia and Moldova, which were once Soviet republics. The regions are also a useful lever for Moscow, which has been able to wield influence in the Moldovan and Georgian governments by dangling the possibility that they may one day regain control over the breakaway regions.
Russia has denied it is behind the separatist movement in Ukraine, although rebels have access to some sophisticated Russian weaponry, including shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles that have shot down Ukrainian helicopters.
Instead, Moscow blames Kiev for what it calls the extremist policies of the new government, which came to power hoping to forge closer ties to the European Union. Kremlin-controlled media, beamed into the mostly Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine, refers to the government in Kiev as a junta that is heavily influenced by fascists.
On Sunday, Margarita Simonyan, the head of Kremlin-funded propaganda channel Russia Today, tweeted that "Kiev has done all that it can to make sure everyone voted for [independence]. It already doesn't matter what Russia says."
Until recently, the separatists appeared to have little chance of winning a free and fair vote in the region, as polls show a majority wanted close ties to Russia but to remain part of Ukraine. But recent fighting between the government and separatists may have tipped many toward independence, hoping it might at least lead to some stability.
"Who likes it when a nation shoots at its own people?" asked retiree Natalia Vasileva, who cast her ballot in central Donetsk. "We weren't against being part of Ukraine, but after the latest events, we've changed our minds."
Indeed, heavy fighting on the streets of Mariupol on Friday appeared to drive many of the residents to the ballot box on Sunday. The fighting began when Ukrainian forces tried to retake a police precinct seized by separatists, interrupting the city's Victory Day parade celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. Unleashing heavy gunfire on residential streets, Ukrainian soldiers eventually withdrew, leaving the precinct a burning wreck, and a handful of locals dead and wounded.
Although it was the separatists who began armed confrontation in Mariupol, locals blamed the government for the ensuing violence. "We need to fence ourselves off from Kiev, they don't understand us, they just come and kill us," said an elderly woman named Natalia who arrived with friends and family, some of whom repeated the word "genocide" while she was speaking. Many residents didn't want to give their last names.
For eastern Ukraine, whose heavy industries are dependent on exports, declaration of independence could thrust it into an international pariah status that would cripple its economy. Barring Crimea-style annexation by Russia, in which Moscow publicly has expressed no interest, the separatist-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic could find itself with crimped export markets and unemployment problems.
Ukraine's interim president, Oleksandr Turchynov, assailed the vote as "self destruction."
"This is a step into the abyss for these regions," he said in comments carried on his official website. "Those who favor independence don't realize it means total destruction of the economy, social programs, even life for most people in these regions."
He said the government was ready to hold talks with people from the eastern regions, but not those who have committed violence. The government has said it is working on a decentralization program that would hand more power to the regions to manage local affairs.
But separatist leaders pushed ahead with the referendum anyway. Roman Lyagin, the election chief of the Donetsk People's Republic, said, "It is better to live in isolation than under occupations."
In a last-minute push to boost voter numbers, activists at the commission grabbed stacks of paper reminding people where and when they could vote, setting off to deliver them to postbox's around town.
Ukraine's central government, which has lost control of much of the region, did little to hinder the voting. For weeks, local police have failed to function as an effective force, and a concerted Ukrainian military operation against a rebel stronghold in the city of Slovyansk has failed to make much headway.
Officials in Kiev say the announced results of the referendum will likely be lopsidedly for independence, in part because some of those who have openly declared loyalty to the Ukrainian have been brutalized or murdered.
In Mariupol, dissenting voices were hard to find as those who opposed the separatist efforts mostly preferred to avoid the referendum.
One elderly woman passing by the long line of voters got heckled and told to go away when she accused the voters of "betraying" Ukraine. "I came to look at this circus, organized under Russian television propaganda," said the woman, Nelly Boyarchenko.
"It is so painful, my soul is aching, I'm a Ukrainian patriot," she said. "These people grew up here, they got an education here, and now they turn around and betray their country."
Reuters: 11. May 2014
Moscow's Ukrainians vote in pro-Russian separatist referendum
Moscow's Ukrainians vote in pro-Russian separatist referendum
A pro-Russian referendum on self-rule in east Ukraine, Donetsk, May 11.
Several thousand Ukrainians voted on Sunday at a makeshift Moscow polling station, joining a self-rule referendum by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine who want the region to break away from Kiev.
Nearly 3 million Ukrainians work in Russia, and there was no doubt about the preference of those who turned out to vote near the Kievsky railway station, where trains and buses leave for Ukraine.
"Of course I am going to vote to join Russia," said Marina Vashchyuk, a Ukrainian temporarily living in Moscow.
"We wish that there were no fascism, and that all people lived in peace and without any Kiev junta," said Oleg, another Ukrainian resident of the capital. "We came here to express our own will, because we are not currently in our homeland but in Moscow."
Voters brought their passports to prove that they came from eastern Ukraine. "Together we're the power; we're invincible!" some chanted.
It was not clear whether their votes would be counted by referendum officials. Ukraine has denounced the vote as illegal and farcical.
The vote follows weeks of fighting that began with the takeover by armed pro-Russian men of government buildings in a dozen eastern Ukrainian towns last month.
Russia has rejected Western accusations that it is whipping up tensions in its former Soviet neighbor. It denies any role in backing the separatists, and says it has no intention of invading or annexing eastern Ukraine.
Associated Press: 11. May 2014
Ukraine guardsmen open fire on crowd
Ukrainian national guardsmen opened fire Sunday on a crowd outside a town hall in eastern Ukraine and an official for the region's insurgents said there were fatalities.
The bloodshed in the town of Krasnoarmeisk occurred hours after dozens of guardsmen shut down voting in a referendum on sovereignty for the region.
An Associated Press photographer who witnessed the shooting said two people were seen lying unmoving on the ground and insurgent leader Denis Pushilin was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying there were an unspecified number of deaths.
Several hours earlier, guardsmen came to the town about 30 kilometers (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.
Eastern Ukraine has been gripped by unrest for the past month as pro-Russia insurgents occupied police stations and government buildings. Ukrainian forces have mounted a limited offensive to try to drive them out.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Sunday conducted referendums on declaring the regions as so-called sovereign people's republics. Leaders of the vote, 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 of seek annexation into Russia.
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