The occupiers are preparing organizational measures and trying to create at least the appearance of legitimacy of the announced referenda in the temporarily occupied territories.
In occupied Mariupol, it is planned to hold a referendum by the so-called "commissions", which will include local collaborators, representatives of the occupation administrations, and the military of the Russian Federation. They will conduct rounds of houses according to compiled lists of those wishing to receive "humanitarian aid". Local residents are convinced that "there is no way back," and everyone who took the "humanitarian" will have to vote.
In Mariupol, the "referendum preparation headquarters" was deployed in one of the shopping centers. His actions are fully coordinated by representatives of the "United Russia" party.
In general, to avoid being hit by the artillery of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, all preparation centers for the pseudo-referendum in the occupied territories are located in premises with a large concentration of the civilian population.
In order to ideologically and propagandistically process the population, the occupiers organize a series of "military-patriotic education" events. The main target audience is local youth who are not interested in Russian ideology.
In Gola Prystan, Skadovsk District, Kherson region, a "youth forum" was held under the slogan "we are together with Russia". Middle and high school students are invited to participate in it. All-Russian public organization of veterans "combat brotherhood" plans to open its branch in Mariupol. The NGO "Veterans of the Airborne Assault Units of the Republic of Bashkortostan" appealed to the city's mayor, Kostyantyn Ivashchenko, with a request to allocate premises for the military-patriotic club "Young Paratrooper - Warrior" and a children's educational and training base.
