Activists say Crimeans face threats, intimidation ahead of Russian vote

Russia is holding nationwide elections for the State Duma, its lower parliament house, on September 18. It is the first Duma vote since Russia took control of Crimea in 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum that Kyiv and most of the world say was illegal.  Public sector workers have reported being threatened with dismissal or wage cuts if they do not vote, Olha Skrypnyk, head of the Crimean Human Rights Group, told the Crimean News Agency. She said that heads of municipal departments on the Black Sea peninsula have called meetings to deliver the ultimatums to their subordinates. Nariman Dzhelalov, deputy chairman of the Mejlis, the self-governing body of the Crimean Tatar people -- which the Russian authorities have branded an extremist organization and banned -- said he has been told of workers at private firms being threatened with layoffs should they decide to skip the vote.  One apparent case of pressure was made public by a Duma candidate in Crimea. On September 3, Oleksandr Talipov shared a photograph of an order sent by authorities in the Crimean city of Feodosia to municipal offices that said that attendance at a September 8 rally in support of the ruling United Russia party was mandatory, and that those unable to attend must write an explanatory note to their superiors.