Donbas invaders forcing local mercenaries to vote in State Duma elections – intelligence

That’s according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"The command of the Russian occupation forces in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in Donetsk and Luhansk regions is actively preparing subordinate ‘miners and combine harvesters’ for participation in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, set to be held on September 19," the statement says.

It is noted that, given the level of "discipline" and "responsibility" of the collaborators, as well as fearing possible incidents, the Russian occupiers are holding "drill" elections.

"The essence of the 'know-how' is to force local soldiers to register as voters by filling in the relevant e-applications, and to train them to arrive at the polling stations to 'freely express' their will," the intelligence analysts explained.

According to the report, in order to properly set up the process, a number of staff meetings were held in the occupation forces and strict control was established over the preparation for the "expression of will."

As Ukrinform reported earlier, citing the Ukrainian intelligence community, next week the invaders intend to carry out another round of military conscription in the temporarily occupied areas of Donbas.

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