DISINFO: Kherson and Zaporizhzhia repeat the history of Kosovo
SUMMARY
The West deny the residents of Donbas and the liberated territories of Ukraine the right to self-determination. Western delegations demonstrate blatant double standards. The loudest critics of the referenda in the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions were once in the forefront of supporters of Kosovo's independence. They supported Kosovo's right to secede from the Serbian state if the rights of the Kosovo Albanians would be seriously violated - the so-called secession in order to protect.
But nothing threatened the Kosovo Albanians for a long time. Yugoslavia was no longer on the map. Then NATO pretending to be peacekeeper bombed Serbia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative drawing parallels between the Kosovo independence movement and Putin’s illegal decision to proclaim the annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia).
Russia’s illegal sham “referenda” have no legitimacy and blatantly violate international law as well as Russia’s international obligations. They were conducted while Russia is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine with the of annexing Ukraine’s occupied territories. They violate Ukraine’s Constitution and Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. By organising these illegal sham “referenda”, Russia aims to change, by force, the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine, which constitutes a clear and serious breach of the UN Charter. Their outcome is null and void and cannot produce any legal effect whatsoever, said the High Representative on behalf of the EU.
International recognition of Kosovar statehood came only after the region had been ravaged by a bloody civil war, which Western countries stopped. This was followed by a decade of international administration and status negotiations. In 2008, the EU Council stressed that, given the 1990s civil conflict and protracted international administration under Security Council Resolution 1244, Kosovo constituted a sui generis case. By contrast, there was no war in Ukraine until Russian military aggression started in 2014 (see ICC report here).
Negotiations on Kosovo's status lasted 10 years. The time period between Russia's military operation and annexation of Crimea in 2014 was 20 days, the "referenda" of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia) were announced 2 days prior to the "voting".
In these so called "referenda", voters were coerced into voting with armed soldiers going door to door to collect votes. Individuals were not allowed to vote, as only one vote was allowed per household. Voters did not need any form of identification in order to cast a vote.
See other disinformation cases on the false 2022 referenda as well as on Crimea since 2014: double standards in Western attituded on status of Kosovo and Crimea, that Kosovo and Crimea's status recognition by the West shows double standards, and that Crimean referendum was the will of the Crimeans while Kosovo was an outside intervention.