Read also: Phony “elections” in Russia’s phony “republics” in Ukraine: a legitimization of the occupation
Since any election requires some outsiders to observe the process, Russia followed its well-worn path and gathered random pro-Russian foreigners to play the role of international monitors to later tell that the “elections” were held “without violations and with a high voter turnout.” In the same manner, back in 2014, the unqualified highly-biased “monitors” proclaimed the sham Crimean plebiscite and the same-type “elections” in the Donbas lawful and democratic.
The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE) has published Anton Shekhovtsov’s report “Foreign Observation of the Illegitimate ‘General Elections’ in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic [so-called “DNR” and “LNR” – Zoria.] in November 2018.“
The “central electoral commissions” of the pseudo republics didn’t publish the lists of the “monitors,” so the author collected data from the open sources to build up the lists of the “observers” at the sham Donbas elections and identified most of them.
Here is what the investigation has found.
Since the international community considered the “general elections” in unrecognized “DNR” and “LNR” illegitimate, no real international monitors were sent to observe the event.
Identified “observers”
According to the report, in order to fill the void of legitimacy, the “authorities” of the “republics” claimed, to have invited 48 and 45 international observers respectively from the following countries:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kongo
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Russia
- Serbia
- Syria
- Türkiye
- USA
- Yemen
Other “monitors” came from three proto-states of “Abkhazia,” “Palestine,” and “South Ossetia.”
“Observers from over 20 countries, including member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), monitored the November 11 elections in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.“
Of course, the pro-Russian foreign citizens from OSCE member countries are not related to the OSCE at all.
The EPDE identified 38 “monitors” in “DNR” and 43 in “LNR.”
Table 1. Identified international “observers” at the “general elections” in the “DNR”
| No. | Country | Name | Affiliation/work |
| 1. | “Abkhazia” | Oleg Nurievich Arshba | Deputy Foreign Minister |
| 2. | “Abkhazia” | Tamaz Yurievich Gogiya | Chairman of the Central Election Committee |
| 3. | Austria | Patrick Poppel | Suvorov Institute |
| 4. | Belgium | Kris Roman | Euro-Rus association |
| 5. | Belgium | Jan Penris | Flemish Interest; member of the Chamber of Representatives of the Federal Parliament of Belgium |
| 6. | Chile | Isaac Marquez | *unknown |
| 7. | Finland | Johan Backman | *unknown |
| 8. | France | Francois Mauld d’Aymee | Donetsk Symphony Orchestra |
| 9. | France | Nicolas Dhuicq | The Republicans |
| 10. | France | Thierry Mariani | The Republicans |
| 11. | France | Nikola Mirkovic | Association “West-East” |
| 12. | France | Xavier Moreau | Sokol Holding |
| 13. | France | Christelle Neant | DONi International Press Center |
| 14. | France | Julien Rochedy | *unknown |
| 15. | France | Alexis Tarrade | The Republicans |
| 16. | France | Quentin Vercruysse | The Republicans |
| 17. | France | Michel Voisin | The Republicans |
| 18. | Germany | Richard Gretzinger | Alternative for Germany |
| 19. | Germany | Artur Leier | The Left |
| 20. | Germany | Gunnar Norbert Lindemann | Alternative for Germany; member of the Berlin state parliament |
| 21. | Germany | Manuel Ochsenreiter | Editor of Magazine Zuerst! |
| 22. | Greece | Kostas Isihos | Syryza; former Deputy Minister of National Defence |
| 23. | Italy | Eliseo Bertolasi | *unknown |
| 24. | Italy | Giulietto Chiesa | *unknown |
| 25. | Italy | Alessandro Musolino | Forward Italy |
| 26. | Italy | Antonio Razzi | Forward Italy |
| 27. | Italy | Palmarino Zoccatelli | League; vice president of the VenetoRussia Cultural Association |
| 28. | Netherlands | Pascal Hillebrand | *unknown |
| 29. | Russia | Olga Fyodorovna Kovitidi | Member of the Federation Council |
| 30. | Russia | Andrey Dmitrievich Kozenko | United Russia, Member of the State Duma |
| 31. | Russia | Dmitriy Vadimovich Sablin | United Russia, Member of the State Duma |
| 32. | Russia | Kazbek Kutsukovich Taysayev | Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Member of the State Duma |
| 33. | Russia | Sergey Pavlovich Tsekov | Member of the Federation Council |
| 34. | Russia | Viktor Petrovich Vodolatskiy | United Russia, Member of the State Duma |
| 35. | Russia | Aleksandr Andreyevich Yushchenko | Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Member of the State Duma |
| 36. | “South Ossetia” | Igor Gedevanovich Chochiev | Member of the parliament of South Ossetia |
| 37. | “South Ossetia” | Ruslan Zaurovich Tadeyev | Minister of State Property and Land Matters |
| 38. | Türkiye | Okay Deprem | Correspondent for the Evrensel newspaper |
Table 2. Identified international “observers” at the “general elections” in the “LNR”
| No. | Country | Country | Affiliation/work |
| 1. | “Abkhazia” | Almaskhan Zurabovich Ardzinba | Member of the Parliament of Abkhazia |
| 2. | “Abkhazia” | Georgiy Chichikoevich Dumava | Assistant to Foreign Minister of Abkhazia |
| 3. | “Abkhazia” | Astamur Omarovich Logua | Member of the Parliament of Abkhazia |
| 4. | “Abkhazia” | Astamur Rufetovich Pachaliya | Bloc of Opposition Forces; member of Abkhazia’s Central Election Committee |
| 5. | “Abkhazia” | Aleksandr Alekseyevich Romanenko | *unknown |
| 6. | Belgium | Frank Creyelman | Flemish Interest |
| 7. | Belgium | Christian Verougstraete | Flemish Interest; former Member of the Flemish Parliament |
| 8. | Brazil | Humberto Setembrino Correa Carvalho | Communist Party of Brazil |
| 9. | Brazil | Nubem Medeiros | Communist Party of Brazil |
| 10. | Brazil | Claudio Ribeiro | *unknown |
| 11. | Canada | John Bosnitch | *unknown |
| 12. | Finland | Jarmo Ekman | Finland-Novorossiya Friendship Society |
| 13. | Finland | Jon Krister Hellevig | Hellevig, Klein & Usov Llc. |
| 14. | Finland | Janus Putkonen | Director of the DONi International Press Center |
| 15. | Germany | Olaf Kießling | Alternative for Germany; member of the Thuringian regional parliament |
| 16. | Germany | Andreas Maurer | The Left |
| 17. | Germany | Tatjana Aleksandrovna Raab-Alifanova | *unknown |
| 18. | Germany | Marco Samm | Mod’s Hair Freiburg |
| 19. | Greece | Stathis Stavropoulos | *unknown |
| 20. | Hungary | Tamas Gergo Samu | Jobbik |
| 21. | Iraq | Mudihir Mohammed Avad Mudihir | Student at the Tambov State University |
| 22. | Ireland | Francis Hughes | *unknown |
| 23. | Netherlands | Ronald van Amerongen | *unknown |
| 24. | Norway | Bjorn Ditlef Nistad | *unknown |
| 25. | “Palestine” | Saleh Mosab | Head of the “Sadyg” Arab Cultural Centre |
| 26. | Poland | Tomasz Malodobry | *unknown |
| 27. | Russia | Aleksey Nikolayevich Didenko | Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia; Member of the State Duma |
| 28. | Russia | Sergey Aleksandrovich Shargunov | Communist Party of the Russian Federation; Member of the State Duma |
| 29. | Russia | Mikhail Viktorovich Shchapov | Communist Party of the Russian Federation; Member of the State Duma |
| 30. | Russia | Aleksandr Sergeyevich Starovoytov | Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia; Member of the State Duma |
| 31. | Russia | Olga Viktorovna Timofeyeva | United Russia; deputy Chair of the State Duma |
| 32. | Russia | Aleksey Aleksandrovich Zhuravlyov | Motherland/United Russia; Member of the State Duma |
| 33. | Serbia | Zoran Krstic | *unknown |
| 34. | Serbia | Ninoslav Milosevic | *unknown |
| 35. | Serbia | Miodrag Zarkovic | *unknown |
| 36. | “South Ossetia” | David Otarovich Gazzaev | Assistant to President of South Ossetia |
| 37. | “South Ossetia” | Igor Vakhtangovich Kozaev | Presidential Administration of South Ossetia |
| 38. | “South Ossetia” | Bakhva Otarovich Tedeyev | *unknown |
| 39. | Syria | Sa’ed Ibrahim Haneef | Student at the Mordovian State University |
| 40. | USA | George Eliason | *unknown |
| 41. | Yemen | Al Khasheb Rashid Abdulkudos | Student at the Orel State University |
| 42. | *unknown | Mohamed Ali Sanaa Omer Abdel Bagi | Student at the Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University |
| 43. | *unknown | Ljubomir Radinovic | Motherland party; chairman of the Society of Russian-Serbian-Montenegrin Friendship |
Read also: Fake monitors “observe” fake elections in Donbas (2014)
Background of the “observers”
Another important find is that most of non-Russian “international observers” were previously involved in various pro-Kremlin activities including:
- previous participation in politically biased and/or illegitimate electoral monitoring missions in Russia and elsewhere;
- legitimization and justification of Russia’s actions directed at undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity;
- criticism of the sanctions imposed on Russia in relation to its aggression towards Ukraine;
- cooperation with the Russian state-controlled instruments of disinformation and propaganda (RT, Sputnik);
- membership in pro-Kremlin movements, groups, and organizations.
How media used the “observers”
The report highlights that the “international observers” emerged at the LDNR voting in order to “provide a sense of general legitimacy and normalcy to the ‘elections’ in the eyes of the domestic and Russian audiences.” The fake monitors were in the spotlight in the Russian-controlled media space of “DNR” and “LNR” – more than ⅓ of all news stories on 11 November mentioned the “international observers.”
The loyal and “state-run” propaganda outlets of “DNR” and “LNR,” as well as Russian media, misinformed audiences about the real international perception of the “elections.” As the report mentions, the propaganda promoted five major narratives, covering the event:
- the “elections” did not run counter to the Minsk agreements, and, therefore, were legitimate;
- the “elections” were characterized by a high turnout and active participation;
- the “elections” took place in a calm and orderly manner;
- the life in the DNR and LNR is safe and peaceful;
- the international community should recognize the “elections,” as well as independence and sovereignty of the DNR and LNR.
Read the full report which includes the lists of identified “observers” on the EPDE website.
