In the upcoming Russian presidential elections, scheduled for March 15-17, the occupying authorities are engaging in tactics to boost turnout in the occupied territories of Ukraine, particularly of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson oblast, and Crimea, Ukraine’s National Resistance Center (NRC) reported.

According to NRC, representatives of the occupation authorities are visiting the homes of pensioners in these areas, offering them “humanitarian aid” in the form of 5,000 rubles ($55) on the condition that they fill out a ballot. Notably, possession of a Russian passport is not a requirement for voting.

“You сan’t hold elections in someone else’s country”: Why Russia’s “voting” in occupied Ukraine is a sham

This strategy appears to be aimed at creating the impression that the residents of the occupied Ukrainian territories support both the occupation and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The offer of money to pensioners is seen as an incentive to participate in the elections, which are illegal in the occupied territories of Ukraine

In February, Ukraine’s Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, called on the international community to firmly condemn the illegal elections in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and not to recognize their “results.”

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