In the Luhansk People’s Republic, a five-day vote continues as part of the referendum on joining Russia in small towns and villages. Izvestia correspondents visited the recently liberated Novotoshkovsky and Orekhovo.
In the village of Novotoshkovskoye, there are no whole houses left. At the entrance to it is a burned-out armored vehicle.
“Now we have ten people left. Even more or less surviving houses were left without roofs. They were flooded with rain last week. The cold is coming soon, and you can’t stay here. We will vote and leave,” said a local resident, Nadezhda.
At 9 am, a gray UAZ-“Bukhanka” with the flags of the LPR and Russia appears in the courtyard – this is a mobile voting point that arrived from the city of Kirovsk.
Women from the election commission set up a polling station right in the yard in five minutes. First of all, the flags of the LPR and Russia are set. Ballot papers are laid out on a large table.
So it turns out that the signal for the beginning of the plebiscite is given by two Su-25 Grach attack aircraft, which pass just above the treetops. The voting process itself is fast. It looks like the Novotoshkovites made their decision a long time ago.
“We feel proud that we are participating in a historic event,” smiles Irina, putting her ballot in the ballot box.
In the center of Orekhovo, many more people come to vote. Mostly pensioners remained in the village, many of them find it hard to walk, but everyone quickly comes to vote on the signal of the GAZelle.
“I voted for ours, for Russia. We need changes, I hope it will be so, ”Lyubov Nesterova tells Izvestia.
Residents of Orekhovo are sure that now a new page of history is opening before them.
Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:
“I voted for ours, for Russia – we need changes”
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