Russian propaganda claims that the inhabitants of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine dream of becoming part of Russia. Like, people dream of exercising their right to express their will. The occupying authorities systematically convinced people that after the seizure of Ukrainian territories by Russia, in particular Kherson and part of the Zaporizhzhia regions, the locals seek to reunite with Russian lands. In response to the “request”, Moscow held the so-called “referendums” and initiated the Ukrainian lands as “new Russians”.

Since then, propagandists have been convincing that the territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia have already become Russian. They created fake infographics, maps, on which Ukrainian territories were designated as being part of Russia. Foreign publishers consciously or unconsciously played along with propaganda: they created maps with different variations in the location of Ukrainian lands. Our analysts have researched that twenty foreign publishing houses print and publish occupation maps of Ukraine in six versions. For example, the German publishing group Mairdumont (and its subsidiaries) recorded the Russian “referendums” of 2022 in the territories occupied by Russia. And in the bookstores of Moscow, pseudo-maps of Russia with Ukrainian lands went on sale. Propagandists are gradually trying to show that their reality is real - and referenda, they say, are recognized by the whole world. Proof of this is the maps with “new regions of Russia”.

The Kremlin is trying in every possible way to demonstrate that local residents strongly support the entry of “new regions” into Russia. In the Russian telegram channel, “delegates” were invented who came to the occupied territories with support for referendums. They also covered the presence of “foreign observers”, who highly appreciated the work of the occupation exit polls. But the “observers” turned out to be supporters of Russia and, obviously, covered the work of the Gauleiters in a biased way.

In fact, fictitious referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are not the will of Ukrainians, but evidence of Russia's desire to legitimize its criminal actions, in particular, the capture of Ukrainian regions. This is a completely illegitimate vote. Its results, in addition to Russia itself, are recognized by the same “sister states”, such as the People's Democratic Republic of China. That is, we are not talking about any “new regions”. This is the occupation of foreign territories by Moscow. And the referenda served as a way to whitewash Russia and present itself as a peacemaker. This is how propagandists relieve themselves of responsibility: the initiative to join Russia allegedly came exclusively from local residents. And the Kremlin seems to have simply given people space for self-determination.

Moreover, the decision to change the territories of Ukraine is allegedly made only on the basis of an all-Ukrainian referendum. And the issue submitted to the referendum cannot call into question the territorial integrity of Ukraine. That is, this is a question that changes the territory of Ukraine in an illegal way. And most importantly: voting should be voluntary, and not at gunpoint (when armed occupiers, together with members of the “electoral commissions” collect votes from apartments).