Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin advisers expect to hold referendums on the annexation of the occupied territories by the end of autumn, reports the Russian website RBC with reference to 5 sources familiar with the progress of the discussion.

According to RBC, Putin’s advisers were guided by the fact that, depending on the military situation, referendums could take place “in the near future or in the distant future.”

They see September as a near target for referendums, and November as a distant one.

“That is, the range that begins with September 11 as a reference point (no Russia will hold regional elections on this date) and ends approximately with the dates of November 4-7,” one of the sources explained.

At the same time, sources cited by Russian journalists claim that the scenario, according to which the referendums will be held in September, most likely will not be implemented, since the Russian troops were not able to capture the entire Donetsk region.

In addition, the counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces in Kherson on Monday, now in its fourth day, means that the Kremlin may have to redeploy troops that would otherwise be involved in the action in Donetsk to southern Ukraine.

The Kremlin would resolve the issue of joining the conquered territories to Ukraine

Investigative journalists of “Meduza” wrote in the second half of August with reference to two sources in the Kremlin that the administration of President Putin has not decided when to annex the conquered Ukrainian territories.

On the one hand, delay would mean that the Russian armed forces could seize more Ukrainian territories, the Moscow leadership considered it necessary to occupy the entire territory of the Donetsk region.

We will remind you that on February 22, two days before the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin recognized the sovereignty of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine over the entire territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Russian troops managed to completely occupy the Luhansk region at the beginning of July, taking Lishchansk. But in Donetsk, the Russian army managed to conquer only about 60% of the territory of this region.

On the other hand, Putin’s advisers in the Kremlin feared that if the annexation referendums were delayed too long, the Russians would realize that something was wrong with the “special military operation” launched on February 24.

Russia wants to annex all the territories it has conquered in Ukraine

Investigative journalists of the Meduza website, which was banned by the Russian authorities in early March, discovered two months ago that the Kremlin wants to annex all the conquered Ukrainian territories, not just the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

In other words, Russia intends to annex the conquered territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions as well. At the same time, sources cited by RBC on Thursday claim that Moscow’s territorial claims have meanwhile spread to the Kharkiv region.

Back in June, the Kremlin began looking for propagandists for the positions of “politicians” or “political officers” to work in the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops, and two months ago, recruitment intensified sharply.

Several political technologists told Meduza journalists on the condition of anonymity that they had already received offers to work as “political commissars” in the occupied territories of Ukraine, offering the positions of deputy mayors.

They would “control politics, public life, mass media, preparations for referendums. Even social programs,” explained one of the interlocutors.

Although all leaders installed by the Russians in the occupied territories have at one time talked about referendums on joining Russia, the occupying authorities of Zaporizhzhia, an oblast in southeastern Ukraine, were the first to officially announce on August 9 that such a vote would be held.

The leader appointed by the Russians in the region, the one who made the statement, did not name the exact date of the referendum.

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