UKRAINE: Vote counting starts in Luhansk as polls close in a referendum on self-rule in Ukraine's East.

Record ID: 645088

  • Title: UKRAINE: Vote counting starts in Luhansk as polls close in a referendum on self-rule in Ukraine's East.
  • Date: 11th May 2014
  • Summary: LUHANSK, UKRAINE (MAY 11, 2014) (REUTERS) OUTSIDE POLLING STATION NOTE INVITING PEOPLE TO REFERENDUM LATE VOTERS CASTING VOTES POLLING OFFICIAL CLOSES DOORS CLOCK SHOWING 2000 (1600GMT) POLLING OFFICIAL BREAKING SEAL ON BALLOT BOX BALLOT BOX BEING EMPTIED ON TABLE VARIOUS POLLING OFFICIALS SORTING BALLOTS BALLOT WITH 'NO' VOTE ON TABLE WITH WORDS 'GLORY TO UKRAINE' WRITTEN ON IT MORE OF VARIOUS POLLING OFFICIALS SORTING BALLOTS
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9H19CCQ1EPPMUS2HVNQO7S2NY
  • Story Text: Polls closed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk as pro-Moscow rebels expressed confidence the East had chosen self-rule in a referendum on Sunday (May 11).
    They differed, however, on what that meant as fighting flared in a conflict that could pitch Russia and the West into a new Cold War.
    Well before polls closed, one separatist leader said the region would form its own state bodies and military after the referendum, formalising a split that began with the armed takeover of state buildings in a dozen eastern towns last month.
    Another said the vote would not change the region's status, but simply show that the East wanted to decide its own fate, whether in Ukraine, on its own or as part of Russia.
    The West has threatened more sanctions against Russia in the key areas of energy, financial services and engineering if it continues what they regard as efforts to destabilise Ukraine.
    The European Union declared the vote illegal on Sunday and may announce some modest measures as soon as Monday, limited by the bloc's reluctance to upset trade ties with Russia.
    Moscow denies any role in the fighting or any ambitions to absorb the mainly Russian-speaking east, an industrial hub, into the Russian Federation following its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea after a referendum in March.
    Ukraine's Interior Ministry called the referendum a criminal farce, its ballot papers "soaked in blood". One official said that two thirds of the territory had declined to participate.
    Ballot papers in the referendum in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which has declared itself a "People's Republic", were printed without security provision, voter registration was patchy and there was confusion over what the vote was for. Separatists in Luhansk said only five percent had voted against.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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