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Chaos in Eastern Ukraine as Separatists Vote Chaos Marks Ukraine Vote On Separation
(about 2 hours later)
DONETSK, Ukraine — Snap referendums conducted by secessionists in eastern Ukraine in hopes of legitimizing their cause drew large crowds on Sunday, and unfolded in a carnival-like atmosphere that was celebratory in some places and lethally violent in others. DONETSK, Ukraine — Separatists in two provinces of eastern Ukraine conducted chaotic and sometimes violent plebiscites on Sunday that offered voters just one question about self-rule, while raising many more about where events in the region were headed.
In Donetsk, the capital of one of the two provinces where pro-Russian separatists have declared “people’s republics,” there were balloons and loudspeakers playing Soviet-era songs, and families came to vote with children in tow. But outside the provincial capitals, the voting took place in such a state of raw chaos that in one town a man was shot to death by pro-Ukrainian paramilitaries on a sidewalk outside a polling station. Large crowds turned out in some cities to cast votes meant to legitimize the separatists’ declarations of independent “people’s republics” in the two provinces. But the voting left unclear whether the two provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk, will now follow the Crimean Peninsula in seeking to be annexed by Russia.
Separatist organizers of the voting say they would announce their counts late Sunday evening, but the results were a foregone conclusion. At polling stations in Donetsk and Slovyansk, another separatist-controlled city, nearly all the ballots that could be seen in the transparent ballot boxes were marked yes, in favor of loosing the province’s ties to the national government in Kiev. Many people who favored Ukrainian unity and opposed the separatists said they would stay home rather than cast ballots. Nearly everyone who cast a ballot appeared to be voting in favor of greater autonomy from the Ukrainian central government in Kiev. Opponents appeared to be staying away from the polls, as many had said they would. The ballot papers that could be seen in transparent ballot boxes in two cities, Donetsk and Slovyansk, were almost all marked yes.
The referendums were roundly condemned from the outset, both in Kiev and internationally, as elections that could not possibly be free and fair, given the political turmoil enveloping the region. But while the results were unlikely to be accepted by anyone but the organizers and their Russian patrons as reflecting the democratic will of the majority, the turnout on Sunday appeared to at least demonstrate that the separatists had substantial popular support. But the voting took place in such a raw state of lawlessness that no one other than the organizers and perhaps their Russian patrons seemed likely to accept the results as a democratic expression of the voters’ will.
The voting was run in an air of hurried improvisation. Ballots were run off on photocopiers. In one city, voting booths consisted of red drapes stapled to wooden frames, and had been thrown together the day before. Propaganda posters supporting secession adorned polling booths in some places, and ballot papers were handed out together with sausage sandwiches to draw voters. The United States, many European nations and the government in Kiev all condemned the referendums, saying they were illegal and likely to worsen the violence in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian groups and the central government. Even President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has generally supported the separatists, publicly distanced himself from the referendums last week, saying they should be delayed. The separatists still went ahead.
“I am voting because I don’t want war,” said one participant, Roman Agrisov, a 40-year-old steelworker, as he stood in a line that was three people wide and a hundred yards long, snaking out the door of Middle School No. 32 in Donetsk. In one town, Ukrainian security forces shot a man to death outside a polling station as an angry crowd, ignoring warning shots, rushed toward a building that the soldiers controlled. In some other cities, voters took ballots that were run off on photocopiers and stuffed them into cardboard boxes that the organizers spirited off quickly, lest they be seized by pro-government forces.
He and some fellow voters said they thought the referendums would deter the authorities in Kiev from pressing military operations to reassert control in the region. Others were less sure whether it would tamp down the unrest or stoke it further, but said they were voting anyway to reject the interim government in Kiev, which they consider illegitimate. By contrast, the atmosphere at polling places in Donetsk city, the capital of the province, was carnival-like, with balloons decorating the entrances and loudspeakers playing Soviet-era songs. Families with children in tow stood in long lines waiting to vote.
“We should be part of Russia,” said Lisa Batisheva, 26, a nurse who waited in line at School No. 12. “Ukraine is weak, and everybody, the Europeans and the Russians, want something from it. As long as we are part of Ukraine, we will have problems.” Many people who cast ballots said they hoped the election would solidify the self-styled independent republics in Donetsk and Luhansk enough to tamp down the violence in the region. Roman Agrisov, a 40-year-old steelworker, said he wanted his vote to signal to the central government to pull its troops out of eastern Ukraine. “I am voting because I don’t want war,” he said.
It was hard to gauge whether there were lines at the polls because only a few polling stations were open, or because of widespread support. There were no rolls of eligible voters, and only very slight precautions were taken against people voting more than once, a common form of electoral fraud in former Soviet states that is known as “carousel voting.” But the voting could just as easily escalate the low-level fighting into a civil war between Russian-backed breakaway regions and Kiev.
Tatyana Us, a volunteer election official, referred to the system as “open list” voting. She said officials would compare handwritten lists of people who voted after the polls closed, and they would deduct one vote each time they found a person who had voted at multiple polling stations. She did not know whether a yes or no vote would be deducted. The interim central government and many leaders in the West have said that the separatists in eastern Ukraine were proxies for the Russian intelligence services, and were trying to destabilize the country after mass protests drove Ukraine’s former pro-Russian leader from power. Yulia V. Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian presidential candidate, said that Russian meddling in the east was splintering Ukraine into a “Yugoslavia scenario.”
Outside Donetsk the appearance of an election tended to break down. In the town of Krasnoarmiysk, voters filed past a table to pick up a ballot and a sausage sandwich, and completed ballots were dropped into cardboard boxes. Separatist groups in eastern Ukraine appeared unfazed by the international condemnation of the voting, which many outsiders said could not possibly be free and fair, given the turmoil enveloping the region.
The scene there, while it lasted, was an outpouring of local pride, and of anger at the interim government in Kiev. Crude secessionist propaganda posters hung near the polling station. One depicted a goat-like figure meant to represent the interim president of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, and asked, “Do you want Satan as your president?” The provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk are predominantly Russian-speaking rather than Ukrainian-speaking, and in past elections they have tended to back pro-Russian politicians. But that does not mean that most people there want to secede from Ukraine. A poll by the Pew Research Center released this month indicated that 70 percent of respondents in eastern Ukraine favored keeping the country united, while only 18 percent favored secession; the remainder were undecided.
Another referred to rejecting the “European choice for Jews,” touching this country’s dark currents of hatred and anti-Semitism. Still another depicted a shocking photograph of a skinned human body, with a legend saying that “Globalism prepares people for cannibalism.” The referendums demonstrated that there was substantial popular support for the pro-Russian separatists in some areas. But it offered no reliable gauge of the breadth of that support. It was not clear whether long voting lines had formed because few polling places were open, or because turnout was running high.
Galina Kuznetsov, an election volunteer overseeing this polling station, said in the morning that she was pleased with the way things were going because nobody was drunk. “You don’t see one person here with a bottle of beer,” she said. “Everybody is sober.” At a half-dozen polling places visited by reporters, except for those in Slovyansk, there were no voting rolls to consult; anyone who could show a local address in official identity papers was allowed to cast a ballot. Tatyana Us, a volunteer election official, referred to the practice as “open list” voting.
But shortly after noon, a pro-Ukrainian volunteer militia backed by Ukrainian army troops who guarded nearby checkpoints swept in and broke up the voting in Krasnoarmiysk, though the organizers managed to carry off the cardboard boxes of ballots, presumably to count. Beyond the provincial capital, the semblance of a normal election frayed, marking a contrast with the secessionist referendum held in Crimea in March. That voting was conducted plausibly and calmly across the province, though its results, too, were not recognized in Kiev or in the West.
A commander of the volunteer militia, known as the Dnepr group and hailing from another region more solidly in Ukrainian government control, said his orders were not specifically to stop the voting, but to secure a nearby building. In the town of Krasnoarmiysk, voters filed past a table on Sunday to pick up a ballot and an sausage sandwich. Crude secessionist propaganda posters hung near the polling station, touching dark themes of xenophobia and anti-Semitism. One depicted the current president, Oleksandr Turchynov, as a goat-like figure and asked, “Do you want Satan as your president?” Another said Ukrainians should reject the “European Jewish choice.”
An angry crowd formed, and one woman yelled, “They are preventing the people from expressing themselves!” Galina Kuznetsov, an election volunteer, said she was pleased with the way things were going, because “you don’t see one person here with a bottle of beer — everybody is sober.”
The scene darkened, with the voting already forgotten and a group of local men taunting the militiamen, who took up positions in City Hall and made a show of cocking their Kalashnikov assault rifles. One man in the group who advanced on them, ignoring warning shots over his head, was shot and killed, and another was wounded. But in the afternoon, a Ukrainian national guard unit known as the Dnepr Brigade appeared and broke up the voting. Organizers grabbed the boxes of cast ballots and ran, presumably intending to count them later, and the soldiers took up positions in the City Hall building where a secessionist polling station had been operating on the steps.
In Dobropole, another town in the Donetsk region, a pro-Ukrainian group staged a parallel referendum for national unity and for their district to separate from Donetsk and join a neighboring province to the west, closer to the central government. They and the separatists set up rival polling places on opposite sides of a dusty, potholed street, with small knots of men guarding each site, and the town seemed primed for violence. With the cardboard and cloth remains of a polling stand littering the ground, the armed men demonstratively cocked their rifles, sometimes leveling them. When a man from the crowd approached the building to block another group of soldiers from entering, he was shot and killed.
Despite their slapdash nature, the referendums risked escalating the smoldering conflict in Ukraine by giving the political wings of pro-Russian militant groups the opportunity to claim at least the semblance of a popular mandate, while presenting the authorities in Kiev with the awkward problem of seeming to defy the voters. Shots were fired in another confrontation in the Luhansk region, the Interfax news agency reported. Ukrainian soldiers there fired into a crowd that was blocking national guard armored vehicles near the village of Baranikovka, the agency said; two people were wounded.
In Dobropole, a pro-Ukrainian group staged a counter-referendum, calling for the town to secede from Donetsk Province and join a neighboring province to the west that would remain part of Ukraine. It set up a polling station across a dusty and potholed street from the secessionists, with knots of men guarding each side. The town seemed primed for violence.
Despite their slapdash nature, the referendums in the east risked escalating the smoldering conflict in Ukraine by entrenching the political wings of pro-Russian militant groups, giving them a chance to claim at least the semblance of a popular mandate, while facing the authorities in Kiev with the awkward problem of appearing to defy voters.
Sergiy Pashinskiy, the acting chief of staff for Ukraine’s presidential administration, denounced the voting on Sunday.Sergiy Pashinskiy, the acting chief of staff for Ukraine’s presidential administration, denounced the voting on Sunday.
“The so-called referendum in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is an attempt by the terrorists to cover up their crimes,” Mr. Pashinskiy said. “In fact, there is no referendum taking place.” He said the voting was taking place only in about one-third of the eastern regions, and that the organizers of the separatist balloting would be prosecuted. “The so-called referendum in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is an attempt by the terrorists to cover up their crimes,” Mr. Pashinskiy said. “In fact, there is no referendum taking place.” He said there was voting going on only in about one-third of the region, and that the organizers of the separatist balloting would be prosecuted.
“Officials of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions participating in this criminal act will be brought to justice in accordance with the laws of Ukraine,” Mr. Pashinskiy said.
The two provinces are predominantly Russian-speaking rather than Ukrainian-speaking, and in past elections have tended to back pro-Russian politicians. But that does not mean that most people there want to secede from Ukraine. A poll by the Pew Research Center released this month indicated that 70 percent of respondents in eastern Ukraine favored keeping the country united, while 18 percent favored the right for the regions to secede, and the remainder were undecided.
Conditions in the east were raw enough that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has generally been supportive of the separatists and was quick to annex Crimea after that region held a referendum to break away from Ukraine, said on Wednesday that the separatists in the east should delay the referendums. It remains unclear what Mr. Putin’s motives were for suggesting the delay.
The central Ukrainian government is convinced that the leaders of the separatist groups who have declared independence in Donetsk and Luhansk are fronts for Russian intelligence, and that their goal is to destabilize Ukraine, where a pro-Russian president was driven from office in February by mass protests.
After weeks of unrest in the east, pro-Russian groups occupy administrative buildings in about a dozen towns, control some highways and have full control over one midsize city, Slovyansk. The voting there was orderly on Sunday, with crowds at some polling places in the morning. But the turnout seemed to thin by early afternoon, and with only a few hours of balloting left, the lists of those who had voted suggested that the turnout in the city was relatively light, perhaps 30 percent of residents or less.After weeks of unrest in the east, pro-Russian groups occupy administrative buildings in about a dozen towns, control some highways and have full control over one midsize city, Slovyansk. The voting there was orderly on Sunday, with crowds at some polling places in the morning. But the turnout seemed to thin by early afternoon, and with only a few hours of balloting left, the lists of those who had voted suggested that the turnout in the city was relatively light, perhaps 30 percent of residents or less.
Government security forces occupy positions around the city, and there was an outbreak of fighting on the outskirts overnight, beginning with a series of explosions, followed by gunfire over the course of about an hour. It was not clear exactly what had been attacked. Government security forces occupy positions around the city, and there was an outbreak of fighting on the outskirts overnight before the voting, beginning with a series of explosions, followed by gunfire over the course of about an hour. It was not clear what had been attacked.
A State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said the United States would not recognize the results of the referendums, whatever they were. She said they were “illegal under Ukrainian law, and are an attempt to create further division and disorder.” a Late Sunday, separatist leaders in Donetsk reported that the ballot on “self-rule” had gone in their favor, with almost 90 percent of the vote, and that 75 percent of the region’s eligible voters had gone to the polls. For the province as a whole, another organizer was quoted as saying, “on average, from every 1,000 ballots, only one is against.”
A State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said the United States would not recognize the results of the referendums, whatever they were. She said they were “illegal under Ukrainian law, and are an attempt to create further division and disorder.”