The SSU has established and collected an exhaustive evidence base on the organizers of russia’s fake referendum in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

So far, the following individuals have been notified of suspicion:

• Volodymyr Vysotskyi, ‘head of the dnr’s central election commission’;
• Olena Kravchenko, ‘head of the lnr’s central election commission’;
• Oleksandr Kofman, ‘head of the dnr’s civic chamber’;
• Maryna Filipova, ‘advisor to the lnr’s head’.

SSU investigators suspect these so-called ‘officials’ of crimes under two articles of the CCU:

• 111-1.5 (collaboration);
• 110.2 (trespass against territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine).

The suspects will be declared wanted in the nearest future.

The SSU established that these persons had played key roles in the organization and holding of the fake plebiscite in the east of Ukraine.

In particular, the head of the so-called ‘dnr’s civic chamber’ and the ‘advisor to the lnr’s head’ are involved in creation of fake structures in the temporarily occupied territories that imitate public initiatives - so-called ‘civic chambers’.

These collaborators, in collusion with other persons, sent an appeal to the so-called ‘heads of the l/dnr’ with the initiative of holding a fake referendum on the territories temporarily occupied by the enemy. They proposed immediate separation from Ukraine and joining russia.

According to the investigation, these offenders are involved in conducting several campaigning and propaganda events aimed at forming a favorable attitude of people under occupation towards russia, its ‘special operation’ and participation in the anti-Ukrainian ‘referendum’.

The voting itself is carried out through the so-called ‘dnr’s and lnr’s central election commissions.’ Representatives of these ‘electoral commissions’ underwent training at special workshops organized by kremlin supervisors in Rostov-on-Don.

The SSU has documented that the heads of ‘the dnr’s and lnr’s central election commissions’ ordered their subordinates to:

• form ‘territorial election commissions’;
• adopt the procedure for financing the ‘electoral’ process from the so-called ‘l/dnr budgets’;
• determine the procedure for monitoring the ‘referendum’ by the ‘security forces’ of the occupation administration – ‘russian ministry of interior’, the 1st and 2nd army corps of the russian occupation army;
• develop a procedure for voting on September 23-27, during which a door-to-door will be conducted to force residents to participate in an illegal event.

Within the criminal proceeding, SSU investigators are documenting the crimes and acting to bring enemy accomplices to justice.

The SSU warns: the statute of limitations does not apply to crimes against foundations of Ukraine’s national statehood. All those involved will be held accountable!

The SSU Office in Donetsk and Luhansk regions is carrying out the pre-trial investigation under the procedural supervision of Donetsk and Luhansk Region Prosecutor’s Offices.