E.U. blasts Russian support for 'illegal' elections in eastern Ukraine
Russian recognition of polls in rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine prompts German warning of possible further sanctions against Moscow
Europe has slammed Moscow's recognition of elections held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine saying it was "incomprehensible" and warned of possible further EU sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's top spokesman said the "so-called elections" in the rebel-held areas were illegitimate and "further aggravate the crisis" in the conflict-torn former Soviet-ruled country.
Earlier, EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini issued a statement slamming the polls that saw the rebels' Kremlin-backed leadership cruise to an entirely-expected victory as "a new obstacle on the path towards peace in Ukraine".
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the elections went "against the letter and spirit" of an internationally brokered truce deal in September that was meant to halt the war in eastern Ukraine. He urged Russia to respect "the unity of Ukraine".
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko blasted the ballot as a "farce that is being conducted under the threat of tanks and guns".
Russia had ignored Western appeals ahead of the votes in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and gave its full backing to the elections that Kiev branded an illegal farce.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a regular press conference that Merkel's government "does not recognise the illegitimate elections held yesterday".
The polls "have no legal relevance and do not contribute to the stabilisation of the situation or to the strengthening of the territorial integrity" of Ukraine, Seibert said. "On the contrary, they further aggravate the crisis."
Given that the polls were run in a very "questionable" way, he said, "it is therefore all the more incomprehensible that there are official Russian voices that either respect or recognise these so-called elections".
Berlin again called on Moscow "to do everything for the implementation of an immediate ceasefire", Seibert said.
He also pointed at renewed reports of fighters and weapons from Russia moving toward Lugansk and Donetsk, and to a Russian convoy that had entered the country without prior coordination with Kiev.
"These are all measures that preclude the early lifting of existing sanctions," he said, adding that "if the situation worsens, it may become necessary to consider a renewed intensification of sanctions".
Russia's deputy foreign minister piled further pressure on Kiev by demanding it call a definitive end to military operations in the east and talk to the rebels on equal terms.
"This work can bring results only on condition of equal dialogue based on mutual respect, with Kiev renouncing military operations and the notorious 'anti-terror operation'," Grigory Karasin told state news agency TASS.
"Ukraine does not want peace, as it claims. Obviously it is playing a double game," the newly elected president of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, told journalists.
Zakharchenko, already the undisputed leader in Donetsk, took 81 per cent of the vote according to rebel election officials, against nine per cent each for his two opponents.
In neighbouring Lugansk region, current insurgent supremo Igor Plotnitsky, a former Soviet army officer, was on some 63 per cent with around a third of the ballots tallied, Russian media reported.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement: "We respect the expression of the will of the residents of southeast [Ukraine).
"Those elected have received a mandate to resolve the practical issues of re-establishing normal life in the region."
