Volodymyr Saldo casts vote in controversial Russian elections in Kherson
Russians opened polling stations in the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine. In front of the cameras, Volodymyr Saldo, labelled a traitor of Ukraine and currently playing the role of governor in the region, cast his vote. Saldo switched sides to the Russians after the full-scale attack on Ukraine.
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"Dear friends, a historic moment has arrived - polling stations in the Kherson region have been opened for the Russian Federation Presidential elections," wrote Volodymyr Saldo on his Telegram channel. "I voted as one of the first voters, realising the significance of this event," he added.
Saldo's betrayal of Ukraine
Currently serving as governor of the Kherson region in Ukraine, a title given to him by Vladimir Putin, Saldo's history is complex. Before the conflict in Ukraine, he was the mayor of Kherson and from 2012 to 2014 (until Crimea's annexation) a deputy of the Supreme Council of Ukraine. He then fled to Russia, returning later with ambitions to run again for mayor.
In 2020, he founded his own local party, the Volodymyr Saldo Block, which was outlawed in 2022 for supporting Russian aggression on Ukrainian territory. Running for mayor again in 2020, he was defeated in the second round of voting.
Directly after the escalation of the war in April 2022, he was appointed by the occupiers as the head of the Kherson military-civil administration, receiving a Russian passport. It was under his governance that a sham referendum on the Kherson region's joining Russia was conducted.
Becoming a puppet of Putin
Over time, however, his influence waned as the Kremlin's grip tightened. His role was diminished. Reports in August 2022 suggested Saldo was poisoned and fell into a coma.
On 30 September 2022, he appeared at an official ceremony in Moscow, where Vladimir Putin validated the results of the "referendum," declaring the "independence" of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.
"The United Kingdom strongly condemned the Russian presidential 'elections' in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, denouncing them as illegal," stated Neil Holland, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the OSCE, on Thursday.
