Polls have opened in two regions of eastern Ukraine in controversial leadership elections held by pro-Russia separatists that Kiev and the West have refused to recognise and which threatens to deepen the international crisis over the conflict.

The elections on Sunday in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, which are based around the two main rebel-held cities, are designed to bring a degree of legitimacy to the makeshift military regimes that already controls them.

Both are choosing new presidents and parliaments, but there is little question that the current unelected rebel chiefs - Alexander Zharchenko in Donetsk and Igor Plotnitsky in Lugansk - will be confirmed in their posts.

No international election monitors will be present for the vote, and no minimum turnout has been set by the organisers, reflecting the uncertainty over how many voters will bother turning out.

"These elections are important because they will give legitimacy to our power and give us more distance from Kiev," said Roman Lyagin, election commission chief of the Donetsk People's Republic.

Polls condemned

Russia, which denies formenting the rebellion has stated it will recognise the election results.

That infuriated Ukraine's pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko who referred to "the pseudo-elections that terrorists and bandits want to organise on occupied territory".

The European Union and NATO have condemned the polls.

Moscow's backing for the vote has sparked a new round of criticism from the West, which has said that punishing sanctions against the Russian economy will not be lifted until the Kremlin does more to help implement a repeatedly violated truce in Ukraine.

The war has claimed more than 4,000 lives since it broke out in April, with rebels wresting control of much of Ukraine's industrial southeast.

The truce signed on September 5, with Russia as one of the signatories, has stemmed the fighting but brought little sign of lasting peace. More than 300 people have died in the last 10 days alone, the United Nations said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's national security service, the SBU, issued a warning late on Friday of the risk of "provocations" during the separatist votes.

"The process of voting itself and of taking part in these elections is dangerous," the SBU official, Markiyan Lubkivsky, said.

"Serious provocations are being prepared that can then be blamed on the Ukrainian authorities."

More violence seemed certain, given a spate of heavy shelling across the conflict zone over the last week.

On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities announced the deaths of six soldiers in the last 24 hours. Another soldier was killed and three more wounded in shelling later in the day, officials said. The rebels rarely give out casualty figures.
(Al Jazeera)