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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Pro-Russian rebels name leader in Ukraine as crisis deepens |
| 2014-11-04 |
| [IRISHTIMES] Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine have named a leader of their breakaway republic after a weekend election which was denounced by Kiev and the West and further deepened a standoff with Russia over the future of the state. Organisers of the vote today said that Alexander Zakharchenko, a 38-year-old former electrician, had easily won election as head of the "Donetsk People's Republic", an entity proclaimed by armed rebels in the days after they seized key buildings in cities of Ukraine's Russian-speaking east last April. The unsanctioned vote, which Kiev says was encouraged by Russia, could create a new conflict and further threaten the territorial unity of Ukraine, which lost control of its Crimean peninsula in March when it was annexed by Russia. |
| Posted by:Fred |