From the "We Knew It All The Time" department. It is now official. The leader of the Crimean Tatars had previously said that he knew from his sources that the FSB had reported to Moscow a 34% turnout. I am not sure where the 123% turnout in Sevastopol came from but it sounds typical.
Vladimir Putin’s own "Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights" has confirmed that the turnout for the so-called “referendum” on the Crimea’s status was much lower than reported, and the results also far less overwhelmingly in favour of joining Russia. The website in Russian is HERE
While the official results of the referendum were 83.1% turnout with 96.77 in favour of joining Russia, the actual results as reported on the front page of the
Council's official website (briefly before being moved WAY to the back) were quite different.
According to Halya Koynash, the report finds that while the overwhelming majority of residents of Sevastopol voted for joining Russian (turnout of 50-80%), the turnout for all of Crimea was from 30-50% and only 50-60% of those voted for joining Russia. The authors also noted that Crimean residents voted less for joining Russia, than for what they called an end to corrupt lawlessness and thieving rule of people brought in from Donetsk (where Viktor Yanukovych and most of his people were from). It was only in Sevastopol, they say, that people genuinely voted for joining Russia. They add that the fear of “illegal armed formations” was higher in Sevastopol than in other regions of Crimea.
Vladimir Putin’s own "Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights" has confirmed that the turnout for the so-called “referendum” on the Crimea’s status was much lower than reported, and the results also far less overwhelmingly in favour of joining Russia. The website in Russian is HERE
While the official results of the referendum were 83.1% turnout with 96.77 in favour of joining Russia, the actual results as reported on the front page of the
Council's official website (briefly before being moved WAY to the back) were quite different.
According to Halya Koynash, the report finds that while the overwhelming majority of residents of Sevastopol voted for joining Russian (turnout of 50-80%), the turnout for all of Crimea was from 30-50% and only 50-60% of those voted for joining Russia. The authors also noted that Crimean residents voted less for joining Russia, than for what they called an end to corrupt lawlessness and thieving rule of people brought in from Donetsk (where Viktor Yanukovych and most of his people were from). It was only in Sevastopol, they say, that people genuinely voted for joining Russia. They add that the fear of “illegal armed formations” was higher in Sevastopol than in other regions of Crimea.
This discrepancy mars
still further the already questionable reputation of those members of far-right
and neo-Stalinist parties whom Russia invited to “observe” the event. None found anything
untoward about the running of the vote or the alleged result.
Her report goes on to list many of the problems identified by the council that the citizens of Crimea are now facing as a result of the annexation. The confusion is simply horrendous and while Putin makes promises in Moscow the local government is in many cases doing the exact opposite.
This article Svetlana Gannushkina:Notes of a Russian Human Rights Defender in Crimea provides in great detail the problems faced by Crimeans. She returned from Crimea to Moscow on 19 April. She had been there with Olga Tseitlina, our lawyer at the Migration and Law Network based in St Petersburg, Zhenya Bobrov and also Andrei Yurov, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council (an organization of which she once was a member). Her article tells of her experience there, what she saw, and people she spoke with.
Her report goes on to list many of the problems identified by the council that the citizens of Crimea are now facing as a result of the annexation. The confusion is simply horrendous and while Putin makes promises in Moscow the local government is in many cases doing the exact opposite.
This article Svetlana Gannushkina:Notes of a Russian Human Rights Defender in Crimea provides in great detail the problems faced by Crimeans. She returned from Crimea to Moscow on 19 April. She had been there with Olga Tseitlina, our lawyer at the Migration and Law Network based in St Petersburg, Zhenya Bobrov and also Andrei Yurov, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council (an organization of which she once was a member). Her article tells of her experience there, what she saw, and people she spoke with.
It is not just Russia, it is all over the world: parallels to 1984
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
So very predictable. Sigh!
ReplyDeleteBlessings and Bear hugs.
The whole world seems to be swinging hard right. Match any country to the 14 points identifying fascism and the powerful countries scare hell out of you with how close they come. Russia is there now, USA well on its way if not already there. China?
ReplyDelete