An expert has warned that occupied areas of Ukraine could become ‘Stalinite police states’ ruled with an iron fist by the FSB (Russia’s security agency) and the GRU (military intelligence).
Russia has been accused of kidnapping two Ukrainian mayors, Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov and Dniprorudne mayor Yevhen Matveyev.
Fedorov was replaced by the pro-Russian Galina Danilchenko, who said in an address on local TV (per The Times): ‘Our main task is to create new mechanisms adapted to the new reality, so that we will live in a new way as soon as possible.’
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She added that there are 'still people in the city trying to destabilise the situation, trying to cause extremist acts'.
Meanwhile, in the captured port city of Kherson, the British Ministry of Defence has reported that Russia seeks to legitimise its rule with a ‘referendum’, hoping to turn the area into a breakaway 'republic' like Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.
Political analyst Mattia Nelles has now warned there are ‘early signs’ that occupied areas of Ukraine could become police states.
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He told The Times: 'The developments are fluid and both alarming and inspiring.
'This is the early signs, the early stages, it is not a full-blown Stalin-like police state yet but we are on the way there.'
Speaking about the possibility of Russia setting up ‘fake republics’ like in Donetsk and Luhansk, Nelles added: 'They go after people and try to arrest them, they go to their houses, they burn their homes.
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'We are very early into that but what I’m warning about is exactly that, we will see a repetition of the playbook because that’s the only thing they know - rule or reigning through terror, intimidating people, breaking the resistance.
'If you look at how fake republics are governed, it is absolutely totalitarian. It is worse than Russia by far.
'There’s a big fear that you could be next, kind of like the 1930s in Stalingrad, where nothing was predictable, and the KGB was reigning with fear and terror.'
Meanwhile MP Bob Seely, a member of the foreign affairs select committee, told The Times: 'They are using the same model they used in Donetsk and Luhansk.
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'They will target high profile opponents and either arrest them or intimidate them or potentially murder them. They will then install a puppet leader, very possibly someone bused in.
'These statelets will now be run effectively by the FSB and GRU, with a front candidate controlled by loyal stooges.'
As the war in Ukraine reaches its 21st day, three million refugees are thought to have fled the country.
According to the United Nations human rights office, 691 civilians have been killed and 1,143 have been injured in the conflict so far.
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If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information
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Simon Fearn