Russian parliament passes laws to declare general mobilization and state of war
Almost overnight, the authorities of the Ukrainian regions occupied by the Russian army, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya, decided on Tuesday to hold plebiscites for express accession to Russia. The voting in these four Ukrainian territories, controlled by self-proclaimed pro-Russian governments and promoted thanks to the full support of Moscow, will take place over five days, between the 23rd and 27th of this month.
At the same time, the State Duma (Lower House of the Russian Parliament) also unanimously passed a law introducing the concepts of “mobilization”, “martial law” and “time of war” into urgent consideration, in second and third final readings. They are adding new articles to the Criminal Code to tighten penalties for those who refuse to be mobilized (between 3 and 10 years in prison), deserters (up to 10 years in prison) and those who surrender as captives to the enemy ( also up to 10 years).
Surprisingly, the so-called “people’s councils” of the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as the occupation administration of the Kherson region, already decided on Monday to simultaneously hold “referendums” to incorporate their territory into Russia. Today, the Zaporizhia region also joined the trial and the leaders of the four entities, Denis Pushilin (Donetsk), Leonid Pásechnik (Lugansk), Vladimir Saldo (Kherson) and Evgueni Balitski (Zaporiyia), officially called out the votes in their respective enclaves.
This consultation was long discussed and several dates were put forward, one of the proposals was on the 11th, which coincided with the municipal and regional elections in Russia, but later, due to the intensity of the fighting, it was decided to postpone see you later. But with the situation on the front lines even more complicated after the major Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkov region, the decision to call the referenda has been hastily taken. And it is being done on the same model that was carried out in Crimea in March 2014 that served as justification for the Kremlin to annex the peninsula.
Coincidentally, the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, this morning encouraged pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels to hold consultations without wasting time as, in his opinion, “they will allow Russia to use all its own defenses”. Through his Telegram channel, Medvedev assures that once the consultations have taken place and the already annexed regions become part of the neighboring country, “invading the territory of Russia would be a crime and if committed, all troops can be used from self-defense’, perhaps even nuclear weapons, a threat he himself has expressed on several occasions.
The former Russian president and former prime minister believes that holding a referendum on accession to Russia “is vital not only for the protection of the inhabitants, but also for the restoration of historic justice”. “The geopolitical transformation of the world will be irreversible once new areas are integrated into Russia,” estimates Medvedev, the first senior Russian official to respond to calls from pro-Russians to annex more Ukrainian regions by Russia. He served as president between 2008 and 2012, after which he was called by President Vladimir Putin to occupy the head of government until he was fired on January 15, 2020. Now Medvedev is vice president of the Russian Security Council, a character consulting firm that has effectively become the main decision center.
But the responses from Kiev were strong. The head of the Ukrainian presidential government, Andrii Yermak, denounced that “the threat to consult and mobilize the Russian population is naive blackmail”. In his opinion, Russian troops “only know how to fight with children and civilians.” The Ukrainian official stated on Telegram that “the enemy is afraid and primitively manipulates. Ukraine will solve the Russian problem. “The threat can only be removed by force.”
For his part, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mijailo Podoliak stated on Twitter that “the Russians have decided to respond asymmetrically to the Ukrainian counter-offensive. They think an illegal ‘referendum’ will prevent HIMARS launchers and the Ukrainian armed forces from destroying those who have occupied our country.” Do you really want to waste your time on a new show? Let them try it, it will be interesting,” concludes. Podoliak.
For Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba: “Ukraine has every right to liberate its territory and will do so.” In his words: «neither the farces of ‘referendums’ nor the hybrid ‘mobilisations’ will change anything. Russia, as it was, remains an aggressor country illegally occupying part of the Ukrainian land. Ukraine has every right to liberate its territory and will liberate it anyway.”
Russia’s Central Electoral Commission, blamed by the Russian opposition for fraud that permanently tarnishes the country’s elections, has announced that it will help Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya organize consultations so that they can enter Russia as soon as possible. can integrate. possible. This was announced by the vice-chairman of the election commission, Nikolai Buláyev, on Tuesday. They will do that by establishing electoral colleges, which do not exist now. The question is how little time is left for this. In addition, it will be nearly impossible to vote in wartime. The men are at the front and most civilians in Donetsk and Luhansk have been evacuated to Russia. Russian troops also do not control all of Donetsk or Zaporizhzhya and have lost towns in Kherson and Lugansk in recent days.
Source: La Verdad
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