DONETSK, Ukraine, Nov 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Separatist leaders in Russian-
backed areas of eastern Ukraine on Monday looked set for an expected victory
according to preliminary results in polls condemned as illegal by Kiev and
Western countries.
Elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk “People’s Republics”, controlled by
separatists since breaking away from Ukraine’s pro-Western government in
2014, took place after the killing of the rebel Donetsk “president” in a bomb
attack in August.
Security was tight with gun-toting, camouflage-clad guards deployed to
ensure order.
“Today we have proved to the world that we can not only fight, not only
win on the battlefield but also build a state based on real democratic
principles,” Denis Pushilin, the 37-year-old acting Donetsk leader who is
expected to win, told a crowd during a concert at the main square.
In partial results that matched expectations, Pushilin and Leonid
Pasechnik, the acting Lugansk leader, were largely ahead with 57 percent and
70 percent respectively, with around a third of votes counted.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
branded the vote “illegal and illegitimate” following a meeting with Ukraine
President Petro Poroshenko on the sidelines of World War I commemorations
also attended by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“These so-called elections undermine the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Ukraine,” the pair said in a joint statement.
Washington and Brussels had asked Russia not to allow the polls to go
ahead, arguing they would further hamper efforts to end a conflict that has
killed more than 10,000 people since 2014.
“The people in eastern Ukraine will be better off within a unified Ukraine
at peace rather than in a second-rate police state run by crooks and thugs,
all subsidized by Russian taxpayers,” tweeted Kurt Volker, the US special
envoy to Ukraine.
Kiev urged the West to punish Russia for violating a 2015 peace agreement,
while Poroshenko earlier called on east Ukrainians to snub the vote “at
gunpoint”.
“Russia is conducting fake elections in Donbass,” Poroshenko said,
referring to war-torn eastern Ukraine.
– Peace talks deadlocked –
But Russia and local authorities rejected the criticism, saying residents
in eastern Ukraine deserved a chance at a normal life and stressing that the
turnout was high.
“There was mortar shelling again yesterday. I was even afraid of going to
vote,” Natalya, who declined to give her last name, told AFP at a polling
station on the outskirts of Donetsk, a few kilometres (miles) from the
frontlines.
The 61-year-old retiree, who lives in a building with boarded-up windows,
said all she wanted was peace and a better pension.
Another voter, Lyudmila Sharakhina, said she wanted her rebel region to
join Russia.
“Of course, we would like to become (part of) Russia, like Crimea did,”
the 60-year-old said at a polling station at a school that doubles as a bomb
shelter.
In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and supported the outbreak of the
insurgency in eastern Ukraine in what Kiev sees as punishment for its pivot
to the West.
While heavy fighting is over, the conflict regularly claims the lives of
soldiers and civilians. Four Ukrainian soldiers died in recent days, Kiev
said on Saturday.
Peace negotiations have hit deadlock and Western-backed accords agreed in
2015 are largely moribund.
Many analysts say the polls are a way for Moscow to strengthen its grip on
around three percent of Ukrainian territory where 3.7 million people live.
– ‘Russia has chosen’ –
Moscow, which denies funnelling troops and arms across the border, says
the polls are necessary to fill the power vacuum after the assassination of
rebel Donetsk leader Alexander Zakharchenko.
While several candidates ran in each of the two regions, Pushilin and
Leonid Pasechnik were expected to win.
Officials pulled out all the stops to encourage a high turnout, setting up
food stalls near polling stations and offering lottery tickets to those who
voted.
Officials said more than 80 percent of eligible voters had cast their
ballots in the Donetsk stronghold, while turnout stood at 77 percent in the
Lugansk region at the close of polls.
People also cast votes for local councillors but some voters said their
opinions did not matter.
“Two global masters — the United States and Russia — are dividing
territories,” said Yury, a 50-year-old Donetsk resident, declining to give
his surname.
Vladimir, a 36-year-old customs broker, said he did not vote, adding that
Pushilin would likely win in Donetsk.
“It appears that Russia has already chosen him,” he told AFP, also
declining to provide his surname.
Kiev’s Western backers say that in order to settle the conflict, Russia
should withdraw troops from eastern Ukraine and agree to a UN peacekeeping
mission.
The last separatist elections were held in 2014 despite protests from the
West and Kiev.