Polish activists hold mock ‘referendum’ to annex Russian embassy in Warsaw

Thousands of Poles voted in a mock referendum on whether or not Poland should annex Russia’s embassy in the country, a parody of those Russia held last month to justify seizing occupied Ukrainian territory.

Organizers set up a table and voting box outside the embassy itself in Warsaw on Monday, which quickly drew a long line, reports Notes from Poland.

“Turnout was 127%,” the organizers, who represented a group of NGOs, announced after the vote. One voter held a sign declaring that “the embassy is a historical part of Poland.”

Voters were asked if they were in favor of annexing the embassy and turning into a “centre for Polish-Ukrainian cooperation,” according to the report. All three options offered were “Yes.”

After working through the 3,000 polling cards they had printed, organizers declared that “the vast majority of valid votes were cast in favour of a positive answer”.

“Therefore, in accordance with the relevant articles of the relevant laws, the Polish state obtains the right to restore the property of the former embassy of the Russian Federation in Poland,” said the organizers, according to Notes from Poland.

The referendum held by Moscow-align officials in occupied Ukrainian territory in late September has been widely declared a “sham,” with reports Russian troops went door to door to press residents to the polls.  

Polish President Andrzej Duda said the votes were “worth nothing” during a trip to the United Nations.

Poland has received a significant portion of Ukrainian refugees since the invasion began in February, around one million according to public data. Already a popular destination for Ukrainian foreign workers, the exodus of able-bodied men back to their homeland has Poland and other central European countries scrambling to fill the largely blue-collar work with the newcomers, who tend to be women and children.