Russia Backs East Ukraine Separatist Votes

Russia raised the stakes in the Ukraine crisis on Monday by saying it respected what rebels claimed was a resounding vote in favor of self-rule in the east of the country.

But the Kremlin also called for dialogue between authorities in Kiev and rebel leaders, as European Union ministers prepared to meet in Brussels to consider toughening sanctions on Russia.

"Moscow respects the expression of the people's will in Donetsk and Lugansk," the Kremlin said in a statement, calling for "the results to be implemented in a civilized manner, without any repeat of violence, through dialogue between representatives of Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk."

Denounced by the central government in Kiev and the West as "a farce", the contentious vote was hastily organized and held with no international observers.

It deepened a crisis that has brought Russia's relations with the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.

Separatist officials in Donetsk province said 89 percent of voters backed breaking away from Ukraine in Sunday's vote.

Roughly similar results were expected later Monday from Lugansk, the other separatist province that voted.

The United States and other Western countries have said they will not recognize the outcome of the vote, which comes some two months after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman dismissed Western accusations against Russia over the Ukraine crisis and said Washington and Brussels were not doing enough to prevent the raging violence in the country.

Speaking to broadsheet Kommersant in an interview published on Monday, Dmitry Peskov called U.S. and EU accusations of Russia fostering unrest in eastern Ukraine "absolute nonsense".

"Why could the West not prevent the use of armored vehicles in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk and avoid the shooting of peaceful people? They have not used their influence and they face nothing (for it), but Russia ends up being guilty," he said.

"They don't care how agreements are being implemented, if a dialogue is being conducted, whether the shooting has been halted," he added.

"The most important thing for them is to conduct elections and put an end to the legal issue about the legitimacy of the coup they have organized."

Ukraine is gearing up to hold snap presidential elections on May 25 after protests in February forced out pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych.

The West said that if Russia disrupts the vote it would face a new round of sanctions.

Peskov said Putin would issue a public comment on rebel-held referendums in eastern Ukraine held on Sunday once the final results are known.