Preparations underway for staged Mariupol referendum - city official

Advisor to the mayor Petro Andryushchenko shared the statement on Espreso.

"September 11 is a long-planned date. The Russians in Donetsk want to speed this date up, but there are some reasons, that are still unclear to us, why Russia is moving these dates," he said.

According to the adviser, they even found a person from Mariupol who is starting to prepare a pseudo-referendum.

"For the past 10-15 years, she has been involved in the election process by parties such as the Party of Regions and the Ukrainian Communist Party. This person has experience in conducting election campaigns, has repeatedly headed election commissions, so at least a decent appearance of this "referendum" will be made," Andryushchenko added.

He added that there is a clear understanding that the Russians will make the numbers they need.

"Now they are actively collecting personal data of citizens in order to compile the appropriate lists for holding a referendum and then show them as proof that it really happened," the advisor to the mayor concluded.