Donetsk militants chief: London may have rigged Scotland independence vote Moscow, September 19 (Interfax/Interfax-Ukraine) - The leader of the unlawful armed groups of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic has expressed suspicion that the British government rigged Thursdays independence referendum in Scotland, in which a relatively small majority voted for the country to remain part of the United Kingdom. I cant exclude the possibility that the British authorities falsified the results of that referendum, as the difference between those who voted for independence and against it isnt too big. This means a few percent might have been massaged in favor of British unity, Miroslav Rudenko told Interfax on Friday. According to the official results, 55.3% voted against Scotlands breaking away. The vote was in fact organized and carried out not by the British authorities, as Rudenko claimed, but by the local officials of the 32 Scottish Councils, or regional authorities. No observers of the vote have reported any doubts about its transparency – apart from a small group of observers from Russia. Earlier, a small rally was held in the Donetsk Peoples Republic in support of Scottish independence. Rudenko also argued that the fact that Scotland was allowed an independence referendum reflected double standards. First of all, we can see that Scotland has been allowed to hold an official referendum and we havent. However, if the British central authorities had seen more powerful public support for the independence of Scotland, they would definitely have refused to allow [the referendum]. This means double standards: the West approves such referendums when they meet its goals, but when they dont it doesnt even allow them to be officially held, Rudenko said. At the same time, he credited the British with a calmer and more civilized attitude to the Scottish referendum than attitudes displayed during independence votes in the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic. Nobody has moved troops into Scotland, nor has anyone been leaping [with joy] on the central street of London and shouting, If youre not leaping youre Scottish. In other words, we can see a calmer and more civilized attitude on the part of the British to referendums of this kind, something we yet have a long way to go to achieve, he said. The May 11 referendums held in the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic – in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts controlled by armed separatists – have not been recognized by any governments, including Russias. No international observers were present to monitor the vote, which was held in violation of Ukrainian law, and there were reports of widespread irregularities during the conduct of the vote, including ballot box stuffing and multiple voting.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 14:00:52 +0000
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