Russia has an unhappy history of arranging referendums in other countries concerning their own independence. Take the example of Latvia:

“[In] July 14–15, 1940, rigged elections were held in Latvia and the other Baltic states. Only one pre-approved list of candidates was allowed for elections for the “People’s Parliament.” The ballots held the following instructions: “Only the list of the Latvian Working People’s Bloc must be deposited in the ballot box. The ballot must be deposited without any changes.” The alleged voter activity index was 97.6%. Most notably, the complete election results were published in Moscow 12 hours before the election closed. Soviet electoral documents found later substantiated that the results were completely fabricated. Tribunals were set up to punish “traitors to the people.” those who had fallen short of the “political duty” of voting Latvia into the USSR. Those who failed to…