Like many residents of the city, Viktor and Olga do not venture out into the streets, fearing that they will be forced to vote in favor of joining Russia. ‘It has been dead quiet on the street since Friday,’ says Viktor via a secure connection from the city. That was the day the referendum on joining Russia began in the Russian army-occupied areas of Ukraine. “Everyone is afraid of being apprehended by Russian soldiers and pressured to participate in the fake referendum.”
Russian-appointed governor Vladimir Saldo claimed on Tuesday that an overwhelming majority of voters voted to join Russia, but Viktor said that was “nonsense”. ‘Everyone says it’s dead quiet in the polling stations, too. Of course there are fanatical Moscow supporters who have cast their vote, but the vast majority of the left-behind population stays away. They don’t like the Russians. Participation is punishable in any case: under Ukrainian law there is a hefty prison sentence. And some don’t dare because they are afraid that the local population will take revenge on them.’
The ‘partial mobilization’ that President Putin announced last week at the same time as the referendums will not have increased the enthusiasm in the occupied territories to participate, Viktor suspects. Even people who are in favor of joining Russia are now suddenly faced with the possibility of being called up to fight against the Ukrainians.
Sham
To fill the ballot boxes anyway, Moscow-promoting employees with ballot papers take to the streets and houses, accompanied by armed Russian soldiers. Anyone who refuses to participate runs the risk of being arrested. “Yesterday they would have pulled a bag over their heads and took twelve people who refused. God knows where.”
The whole referendum is ‘one big sham’, says Viktor. ‘Voices under the barrel of a gun! Moreover, the majority of residents are not allowed to vote: more than 60 percent of the population has fled the Russians. Those people would all vote against joining Russia.’
Still, he is sure that Moscow will declare the election victory, after which President Putin will declare the official annexation of the territories. Then Viktor and his wife come to live in another country overnight.
Viktor himself was born in Russia, his father was an officer in the Russian army, but he wants nothing to do with Putin’s Russia. He still has family in Russia, but he has hardly any contact with them anymore. “They really believe that we live here under the Nazis and fascists and that the Russian army has come to liberate us. They don’t believe that the Russians are shooting down entire cities. According to them, the soldiers have come to distribute relief supplies and open schools.’
“Even if Moscow declares Kherson a province of Russia, we will never accept a Russian passport or take a pension from Russia, not even humanitarian aid, nothing!” he swears.
Prevent exodus
The couple still hopes for the Ukrainian army, which has been engaged in an offensive in the south of the country in recent weeks. The rumble of war can be heard from afar. There are also explosions in Kherson every day. Last weekend, a hotel in Kherson was reportedly housing pro-Russian foreign “observers” to oversee the referendum.
‘But it’s going so slowly, liberation still seems far away’, Viktor sighs. “First they talked about August, then September, but now they’re already talking about the end of this year…”
If the liberation does not come, they will have to leave Kherson, their house and their vegetable garden, all their past behind, he fears. “We don’t want to become foreigners in our own country.” But the net is starting to close. ‘Until recently it was still possible to get away via Crimea and Russia, even if you had to use dubious commercial offices to do so – very expensively. But there are now rumors that Moscow will close its borders completely to prevent an exodus.’
He is concerned about what will happen after the expected annexation of the occupied territories. ‘It won’t be going that fast for the time being,’ he says. “But in a few weeks the first soldiers whom Putin has now called into arms will arrive.” The Russians may then launch another offensive to try to take control of the rest of the Kherson region as well. “At least it won’t get any quieter.”