Luhansk Governor Serhiy Hajday said in online posts that election officials had removed the names of people who voted against the Anschluss. There were also threats to break down the doors of those who refused to vote.
The mayor of Melitopol in the Zaporizhia region, Ivan Fedorov, told the AP news agency that the Russians had brought Crimean residents to his city to urge citizens to vote. “Russians see overwhelming resistance and fear to participate in the referendum,” he said. “They are forced to bring people in to create an image and an illusion of attunement.” In addition, “groups of collaborators and Russians go door to door together with armed soldiers, but few people open the door to them”.