What happened in brief: 28 September

The occupation “governments” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR” and “LPR”), as well as the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine announced that the residents of those regions voted in favour of joining Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the “referendums” as a farce: “We knew in advance what would be drawn instead of the result. Even intelligence didn't have to work very hard. The agreed figures for this farce were thrown into the media. Russia is not even hiding,” he stated.

Russia has asked to convene an official session of the UN Security Council over the “acts of sabotage” on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, TASS reports, citing Dmitry Polyansky, the deputy Russian envoy to the UN. Bloomberg points out that the rupture of the Nord Stream gas pipelines may lead to one of the largest gas leaks in history.

Russian border authorities have started handing out written notices to men attempting to leave the country warning them of criminal liability. Two men that reached out to Novaya Gazeta. Europe got turned away at the border and told to contact their local enlistment offices for more details.

Moscow police officers detained Darya Ivanova for putting up anti-war leaflets. At the police station, they repeatedly beat her up and choked her. Before carrying out a body search, the policemen threatened to find drugs on Darya’s person: “We’ll find drugs in your arse, then we’ll charge you with prostitution, too.” The woman plans to file a report with the Russian Investigative Committee.

Latvia has declared a state of emergency in the regions bordering Russia’s Pskov region, as well as in airports and sea ports, at border checkpoints and on railways due to the mobilisation declared in Russia and the increased number of Russians wishing to leave their country.