Russia should be kicked out of its Ottawa embassy, concludes the result of a bogus vote held in its neighborhood to mock Kremlin-sponsored “referendums” on the territories it occupies in Ukraine.
“That’s for [le président ukrainien] Zelensky,” says Kebir Alcime, depositing his vote in the ballot box, installed on the sidewalk in front of the Russian embassy, and on which it is written “annexation of the embassy”.
The scene was immortalized by a video that went viral, shared thousands of times on Twitter. Since Wednesday, the demonstration which is held daily in front of the diplomatic offices of the Russian Federation has taken on the air of a rigged popular vote on the fate of the austere building, for a third day in a row.
“Are you in favor of annexing the property at 285 Charlotte Street, Ottawa, Canada,” read the ballots, whose only response choices are “YES” in various languages.
Unsurprisingly, the “YES” won in Friday’s count. The displayed result is 106%. There will be no recount.
Openly rigged vote
“Our referendum is everywhere on [le média social] Telegram, all over Russian Telegram. It even made the news in some countries! », maintains Angela Kalyta, one of its organizers, in an interview with the To have to.
The 36-year-old, whose grandmother immigrated from Ukraine, is part of a small group of protesters who meet every weekday outside the Russian Embassy. Opponents of the war in Ukraine meet at the end of the afternoon, so that their flags and their slogans will be noticed by diplomats on their way out of work.
“It started as a joke,” says Angela Kalyta about the annexation vote of the embassy. The joke is that this vote has no impact. Like the referendum votes in Ukraine. »
The bulletin, designed to resemble the one produced by the Russians in Ukrainian territories, bears the letterhead of the “People’s Government of the Republic of Sandy Hill”, the district of the capital where the embassy is located. He specifies that it is possible to vote several times, and that “the results will be adjusted to reflect the desired result”.
Last Friday, Russia formalized the annexation of four occupied Ukrainian territories, on which it organized so-called referendums in the middle of a war zone. This new escalation in the conflict has been denounced by several countries, including Canada, at a time when Russia is brandishing the threat of using nuclear weapons.
Tensions with diplomats
The demonstrators encountered by The duty Among the twenty present Friday in front of the Russian embassy in Ottawa said they were encouraged by the recent breakthroughs of Ukraine, after months of war of invasion led by Russia. They have recently taken to reading the list of names of children who lost their lives in the conflict, published daily by the Ukrainian government.
“It’s always sad to see every day, every week another event that happens. But this initiative to hold a referendum, it brought us together [les manifestants] “, explains Fred May, with in hand a hockey stick for children in the colors of Ukraine.
Their tenacity to demonstrate in front of the embassy barriers, however, led to several clashes with Russian diplomats. The latter would, for example, have called the police alleging that they had suffered damage to their cars.
In August, individuals driving a car with diplomatic license plates stole a bicycle in Ukrainian colors installed by protesters in front of the Russian Embassy, and have painted a “Z” on the road, a symbol of support for the Russian invasion forces. Protesters claim that this same car, captured by surveillance cameras, was seen in the embassy parking lot.
In September, the Russian embassy claimed that an individual attacked its embassy in Ottawa. She published video from a surveillance camera dated September 12 which appears to show an individual throwing a Molotov cocktail at the building.
“He definitely doesn’t make our small group. We follow the laws, and we are not here to attack them, ”says Angela Kalyta. However, it shows very different reactions from one diplomat to another, some hurling insults or propaganda, others jokes.