Your Evening Briefing: Russia Starts ‘Sham’ Votes, Adds Call-Up Exemptions
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Russian security forces detain a demonstrator on Sept. 21 following calls to protest a “partial” mobilization ordered by Vladimir Putin. More than 1,300 people were detained at demonstrations across Russia, a police monitoring group said.
Photographer: Alexander Nemenov/AFP
In what have been labeled by Ukraine, the US, NATO and others as “sham” votes, Kremlin forces and Moscow-aligned rebels in four occupied territories of Ukraine are holding referendums on whether to join Russia. Kyiv has slammed the effort as reminiscent of a similar ballot in Crimea in 2014 ahead of its annexation, while the West has warned that Vladimir Putin’s related threat to use nuclear weapons is fomenting global instability. The ballots in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, mark an escalation in Russia’s plans to annex swaths of its neighbor. They follow recent setbacks for Russian troops and Putin’s move to call up as many as 300,000 reservists to fight. That order has triggered protests around the country, the biggest since the early days of the war, and conscription-age men are rushing to find ways to flee. Following more blowback, the Kremlin has now announced a few exemptions. At the same time, more evidence emerged of alleged torture and mass killings of civilians by Russian soldiers.
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