http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/world/europe/vote-set-by-ukraine-separatists-wins-russias-support.html 2014-10-28 22:15:55 Vote Set by Ukraine Separatists Wins Russia’s Support The Kremlin said it would recognize coming elections in the separatist-controlled areas of Ukraine, where rebel leaders have scheduled a vote in violation of an agreement signed last month. === MOSCOW — The Russian government said on Tuesday it would recognize the results of coming elections in the separatist-controlled areas of eastern The Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, told Russian news agencies that the elections to be held in the embattled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk were “important for legitimizing the authority” of the separatist governments there. “We expect the elections to take place as agreed,” Mr. Lavrov said. “And we of course will recognize their results.” A law adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament granting “special status” to the two eastern regions allows for them to hold local elections on Dec. 7 as part of nationwide balloting for municipal and regional offices. The agreement between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists, signed on Sept. 5 in Minsk, and a follow-up document signed later last month, had called for the local elections to be held in accordance with Ukrainian law. The separatist leaders, however, announced plans to hold the balloting on their own schedule, in early November. Mr. Lavrov’s comments appeared to call into question the details of the agreements just a day after he said that In that race With nearly 95 percent of votes counted on Tuesday, the People’s Front led by Mr. Yatsenyuk had 22.2 percent and the president’s coalition, Bloc Petro Poroshenko, had 21.8 percent. They were followed by a new reformist party called Self-Help with 11 percent; the Opposition Bloc, which includes allies of the former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, with 9.2 percent; the populist Radical Party with 7.4 percent and Fatherland, led by a former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, with 5.7 percent. Voting was not possible in Crimea, In the east, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled the fighting between government forces and rebels, despite the truce agreement, turnout was extremely low. Separatist leaders blocked voting in more than half of the districts in Donetsk and Luhansk. In the 45th District in Donetsk, for instance, only 2,000 people voted on Sunday compared with more than 114,000 people who voted in the Parliamentary elections in 2012. In a statement on Monday praising Ukraine for the Parliamentary elections, President Obama called on Russia to “ensure that its proxies in eastern Ukraine” hold the local elections in early December, in accordance with the Minsk agreement. Russia has denied that it can influence political decisions made by the rebels, although its border with Ukraine remains porous and is clearly an important conduit for fighters, guns and money. “The United States will not recognize any election held in separatist-held areas that does not comport with Ukrainian law and is not held with the express consent and under the authority of the Ukrainian government,” Mr. Obama said In public comments on Tuesday, Mr. Putin said that the Minsk agreement did not specify that voting had to take place “in accordance with,” but only “in coordination with” Ukrainian law. The basis for his interpretation was not clear as the official text of the Minsk accord, Mr. Putin also said that Kiev had broken a previously undisclosed agreement to hold the elections before Nov. 3. “One can argue as much as he wants,” Mr. Putin said on Friday. “Most important is to end the war immediately. If Ukraine wants to maintain its territorial integrity, and we also want this, then they needn’t cling to some village or another, it is pointless.”