Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), an agency of President Zelensky’s National Security and Defense Council, enthusiastically reported March 6 on the alleged results of a so-called “National Online Referendum on Self-Determination of National Republics” of Russia. The Kremlin is in “shock,” the CCD cries, because five populous Russian regions overwhelmingly want to separate from Moscow!
“Votes for secession from the Russian Federation were held from February 16 [–28] in five Russian regions ... — in Konigsberg (Kaliningrad and Oblast), Ingria (St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast), Kuban (Krasnodar region), Siberia and the Urals. 5.634 million people took part in the vote, which is a representative sample,” the CCD writes. Among the slogans of those referendums were “Enough with feeding Moscow!,” “Enough of dying for the Kremlin!,” “Vote for the Independence of your republic!,” and so forth.
Online referenda are notoriously unrepresentative of anything, and their organizers can claim any results they please, but the intent of the operation is clear. According to the CCD, “the ultimate goal of the `Forum of the Free Peoples of Russia’ is to change the administrative and territorial structure of the Russian Federation and the emergence on its territory of a number of free, independent and democratic states.” Organizers will meet within a month to define the next steps for achieving this goal, says the CCD. [https://cpd.gov.ua/articles/chomu-pyat-rosijskyh-regioniv-hochut-vidokremytys-vid-rosiyi/]
