Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9945668
One resident complained of pro-Russian collaborators with ballot boxes going from house to house looking for voters accompanied by armed soldiers.
Vladimir Putin will certainly win another term of office, but a high turnout would help the Kremlin’s efforts to legitimise his continued rule.
It would also be used to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Voting normally starts early in remote parts of Russia, but the procedure has been extended to the four partially occupied regions of Ukraine “for security reasons”.
Ukrainians under occupation are also put under pressure through a pro-vote campaign called InformUIK, ostensibly designed to inform them about the procedure of voting, as well as all the candidates.
Residents have been sent text messages informing them of the dates of the vote and tried-and-tested Soviet methods are also being deployed to attract them to polling stations, such as free concerts and food.
The day early voting started in occupied parts of the Kherson region, on 27 February, there were two explosions in Nova Kakhovka: one targeting the offices of the Kremlin’s United Russia party, and the other near a polling station.
Then last week Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said a local woman helping the Russian administration hold the election had been “liquidated” in a car bombing on 6 March in the occupied town of Berdyansk in the Zaporizhzhia region.
While Russia-installed officials and media in occupied parts of Ukraine are busy promoting the vote, they do not focus too much on drumming up support for any particular candidate - and they don’t need to.
The original article contains 1,017 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!