Russia’s referendum weapon

Preparations for a ‘referendum’ have begun in Kherson Oblast, the Russian-occupied region north of Crimea, according to Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration and one of Moscow’s puppet governors. ‘Kherson Oblast will never return to an environment of Nazism, debauchery, and cynicism,’ he said. A date for the referendum has not yet been announced, but Stremousov previously mentioned that it could take place in the autumn.


Russian troops went into the region at the beginning of March. Since then, the Kherson city has been under occupation. Ukrainian intelligence has warned that one of the goals of the referendum may be the forced mobilisation of Kherson’s residents into the Russian army. In February, five days before the invasion, the ‘Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics’ announced a mobilisation of men aged between 18 and 55. Later some of them surrendered to the Ukrainian army – before the war, they were teachers, ​​locksmiths and social workers. Men were taken into the army straight from the streets, put on buses and sent to military assembly points. 

A referendum on whether the so-called Kherson People’s Republic joins the Russian Federation will allow the Kremlin to replenish its army and continue its offensive. The residents of Kherson are currently forced to have Russian passports or their salaries and pensions will be cut off: the justification is that Vladimir Putin is ‘protecting Russian citizens living in Ukraine’. ‘Yes, we are preparing for the referendum, and we will hold it. And, oddly enough, the Kherson region will make a decision and join the Russian Federation,’ added Stremousov.