Pseudo-Referendums in the Occupied Territories of Ukraine as a Mechanism of International Political “Legitimation” of Russian Aggression
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31861/mhpi2023.47.266-278Keywords:
referendum, international political legitimation, international observation, temporarily occupied territories, legitimation technology, UN, Council of Europe, OSCE, BRICSAbstract
The referendum usually regarded as a necessary component of direct democracy and a tool for implementing the principle of popular sovereignty. Unfortunately, most authoritarian regimes use the referendum as technology to manipulate and legitimize decisions necessary for the political elite. The Russian Federation as an aggressor state uses this technology as a component of aggression legitimation against Ukraine. The usage of the referendum procedure allows the Russian Federation to imitate of implementation of the principle of popular sovereignty and create fake legitimation over the annexation of Ukrainian territories. In addition to legitimizing the annexation of Ukrainian territories, the Russian Federation uses referendum to achieve several foreign policy goals. First, Russian pseudo-referendums in the occupied territories of Ukraine allowed Russian Government Officials to actualize the topic of the Russian-Ukrainian war and mobilize new resources for further aggression. Second, pseudo-referendums were important informational and political events that is the reason why Russia is trying to use them to demonstrate the seriousness of its intentions and to use them in a possible political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict. Russia will also seek to hold new referendums under the supervision of international organizations as a necessary condition for a peaceful conflict resolution. In general, the question of international political legitimation of pseudo-referendums became a kind of measurement of the level of international support for Russian aggression against Ukraine. As expected, the international community did not recognize the Russian pseudo-referendums and condemned these referendums as illegitimate and illegal. Furthermore, Russia will continue to attempt to use the political and informational significance of referendums in the context of Russian aggression in the future.
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