DONETSK – Pro-Russian rebels elected a separatist leadership in eastern Ukraine on Sunday in a vote President Petro Poroshenko called “a farce.” Mining electrician-turned-rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko won over 81 per cent of the vote, according to the rebels’ exit polls of an election that has worsened a standoff between Russia and the West.The United States and European Union have already denounced it as illegitimate, but Russia has said it would recognise the result, deepening a crisis that began with the popular overthrow of a Moscow-backed president in February.Poroshenko said the votes in the eastern Ukrainian rebel region of Donetsk …read more
Source: AsiaOne
