At one level the referendums are meaningless. But they are a sign of the panic that has gripped the Kremlin since its spectacular losses in Ukraine early September
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskBy now Ukraine’s army was supposed to have disintegrated, its government to have collapsed and its president to be in exile. Europe, dependent on Russian energy, was supposed to have bowed to the inevitable, as it had done several times during his 22-year long presidency. All this in time for Mr Putin’s 70th birthday on October 7th.
Then, it appears, the authorities decided to make their task easier by encouraging potential naysayers to flee. On September 26th the occupiers opened their checkpoints and allowed Ukrainians to leave.counted hundreds of vehicles crossing from Russian-controlled territory. Two days later the Russian–installed occupation governments announced “results” that ranged from an 87% “yes” vote in Zaporizhia to 99% in Donetsk.
The draft has badly undermined Russians’ support for Mr Putin’s “special military operation” by making plain that it is a big, hard war that will cost many more Russian lives. It has also exposed some of his lies and failures. On September 21st Mr Putin promised that only people with previous military experience would be called up. Yet within hours, draft notices were being handed to anyone the state’s goons could grab—specialists, teachers, doctors, chronically sick people.