May 11, 2014 7:23 a.m. ET
People cast their ballot for the referendum called by pro-Russian rebels to split from the rest of Ukraine on Sunday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/Genya Savilov
Pro-Russian separatists in two eastern provinces opened polling stations for a referendum intended to cement their independence from Ukraine but whose results Kiev said Sunday it won't recognize.
Turnout was heavy at hastily built voting stations, where ballot boxes were plastered with paper flags of the already-self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.
Election officials said they have more than 1,500 voting stations across Donetsk alone, and even intend to hold the vote in the port city of Mariupol, where fighting Friday left several dead—many of them bystanders—as Kiev tried to stamp its control there.
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 are certain to be rigged. One Donetsk electoral official, Mikhail Samolenko, said Sunday there were no real safeguards to keep people from voting several times, but that it didn't matter "because everyone is voting yes" for independence.
Until recently, the separatists would 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 that it might at least lead to some stability.
A woman shows her ballot paper at a polling station in Khryaschevate village near Lugansk, Ukraine. European Pressphoto Agency/Igor Kovalenko
"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."
In 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 Sergei Pashinsky at a briefing in Kiev on Sunday.
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 statelets in Moldova and Georgia.
Those statelets have been useful allies to Russia, which has been able to influence the Moldovan and Georgian governments by dangling the possibility that they may one day regain control over the breakaway regions.
Russia has denied that it is behind the separatist movement, and blames instead what it calls the extremist policies of the new government in Kiev. 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."
Russia's government-controlled RIA Novosti news service, meanwhile, reported that 65% of the Lugansk province had already turned out to vote by noon.
For eastern Ukraine, whose heavy industries are dependent on exports, an international pariah status could cause serious economic pain. Barring Crimea-style annexation by Russia, in which Moscow publicly has expressed no interest, the Donetsk People's Republic could find itself with crimped export markets and unemployment problems. But separatists are pushing ahead anyway. Roman Lyagin, the election chief of the Donetsk People's Republic, said, "It's 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 postboxes around town.
The separatists are pressing ahead with the vote despite violent clashes Friday in Mariupol. Central authority over the region has largely collapsed as armed militants have seized several large towns. A Ukrainian military operation has failed to make much headway, and the local police have for weeks failed to function as an effective force. In the regional capital of Donetsk, the pro-Russia militants are in control and are able to deploy several hundred fighters, many of whom are armed with rifles.
"We are concerned about potential provocations, but our men will provide security for the referendum," said Nikolai Solntsev, who calls himself a council member for the separatists.
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 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.
People lined up at the polling stations in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Sunday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images/Genya Savilov
The government has said it is working on a decentralization program that would hand more power to the regions to manage local affairs.
The separatists are using the equipment and buildings normally reserved for elections sanctioned by the capital as local authorities largely have acquiesced to the vote despite Kiev's opposition. Many polling stations are located in schools and other public buildings.
At one downtown school in Donetsk, a security guard chatted with people who had come to set up a polling station. A crude wooden frame covered with a curtain formed two voting booths. The wall in the school's foyer was covered with photographs and posters in Russian and Ukrainian celebrating children's achievements.
"I've waited 23 years for this," said Sergei Baryshnikov, a history professor and separatist council member, referring to Ukraine's 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Mr. Lyagin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent televised appeal to delay the referendum had an unexpected benefit. Tied up in fighting with Ukraine's military and rushing against the clock to organize the ballot all at the same time, the separatists never managed to put together a serious campaign to publicize their ballot. Then along came Mr. Putin and informed people about the referendum on Russian state television, albeit in the context of needing to postpone it.
"It worked to our advantage actually," Mr. Lyagin said Saturday. "Now even the people in remote corners of our region are aware of the referendum. We are grateful to him for that."
Some separatist leaders say the referendum doesn't mean outright independence, merely "state self-determination," an intentionally vague formulation that gives them options to decide at a later stage what exactly the Donetsk People's Republic should become. Though they don't rule out some form of confederation with Ukraine, they have made clear it won't be with the Ukraine that exists today, or with the one that will emerge after the May 25 presidential election, which the separatists plan to derail on their territory.
Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com<mailto:james.marson@wsj.com> and Philip Shishkin at philip.shishkin@wsj.com<mailto:philip.shishkin@wsj.com>
0 comments:
Post a Comment