Ukraine Defends Vote Despite Unrest, Putin Pledges 'Respect'
By Alastair Macdonald and Sabina Zawadzki
KIEV/DONETSK Sun May 25, 2014 11:31am IST
(Reuters) - Vladimir Putin promised that Russia would work with the new Ukrainian administration formed after a presidential election on Sunday that the Kiev government said on Saturday would anchor the ex-Soviet state to the West.
In the eastern region, where at least 20 people have been killed in recent days, there was little violence. But pro-Moscow separatists again rejected an election run by a fascist "junta" in Kiev and national electoral officials said few ballot papers had yet been issued there, implying most will be denied a vote.
Denouncing an "atmosphere of terror" directed against local electoral officials in the east, Europe's OSCE democracy agency pulled out most of the dozens of international monitors it had posted to Donetsk region out of fears for their security.
Polls point to a resounding win for a pro-Western candidate and a heavy turnout elsewhere in the country of 45 million.
President Putin's verbal olive branch after months of East-West feuding and his annexation of Crimea, came at an economic forum where, having earlier acknowledged U.S. and EU sanctions were hurting the Russian economy, he played down talk of a new Cold War and denied a desire to rebuild Moscow's Soviet empire.
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http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/05/25/uk-ukraine-crisis-idINKBN0E506F20140525
