Readers of “Rosbalt”: Evacuation of the population of the LDNR – preparation for the entry of Russian troops into the Donbass

When answering a question about the purpose of evacuating residents of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass, the majority of Rosbalt readers chose the option “preparation for Moscow’s recognition of the independence of the LDNR and the introduction of Russian peacekeepers into the Donbass.” Of the 5,000 87 survey participants, 48.6% agreed with this.

The second most popular option was “aggravate the situation in order to force Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements” – 24.14%.

In third place with 13% of the votes was the answer “to save civilians during the offensive of Ukrainian troops.”

10.14% believe that the evacuation is needed to “force Kiev to pull troops to the Donbass” and, accordingly, “to facilitate the attack on Ukraine from other territories.”

Only 4.01% of readers decided that the transfer of the Donbass population to the Russian Federation is carried out in order to “lure the Ukrainian army to uncontrolled territories and defeat it with the forces of the RF Armed Forces.”

On February 18, the LDNR authorities announced that the population was beginning to be evacuated to the Rostov region due to the “threat of Ukraine’s invasion.” At the same time, it turned out that the appeals of the leaders of the republics were recorded in advance, even before the aggravation in the Donbass.

Refugees are accepted not only by Rostov, Voronezh and other regions adjacent to Ukraine, but also by many other regions of Russia. On February 22, unscheduled meetings of the State Duma and the Federation Council were announced, at which, as analysts do not exclude, deputies and senators can give the president permission to use the armed forces in Ukraine.