Sonja Van den Ende
Versions of names: Сонья ван ден Енде
Netherlands
Sonja van den Ende is an independent journalist and columnist while more often she is seen as a pro-Russian conspiracy theorist. She was recruited to report on Ukraine from March 2022 and has taken part in “press tours” organised by the Russian army in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Sonja van den Ende was reporting from Syria. She has accused the US and Israel of mass murder in Syria, and has praised Putin for his help in “defending the Syrian people”.
Corresponding elections
illegitimate
From 23 to 27 September 2022, the Russian forces organised a sham election process - pseudo-referendum as a pretext for the formal annexation of the regions of occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson by Russia. The annexation of the four regions was announced on 30 September 2022.
illegitimate
From 8 to 10 September 2023, the Russian forces organised widely condemned regional and municipal elections in the regions of occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. The results were largely rejected by the international community, with North Korea and Syria being the only ones to explicitly recognise them.