ROSTOV-ON-DON, November 2 (RIA Novosti) — A group of international election observers have registered no reports of suspected vote rigging at the polling stations set up for Donetsk and Luhansk refugees in southwestern Russia, a Hungarian observer told reporters during Sunday's vote.
"Everything is going, as it should. We have exposed no violations so far," the observer said, adding, "You cannot prohibit people to vote. These elections must prove that voting can be peaceful."
Another Hungarian observer said she did not expect Kiev to recognize the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections in its breakaway eastern "republics."
"The situation we are in today is that the West has double standards: they have their own take on what a democracy is, and all other opinions don't count," she said. The observer stressed she believed that elections would help peace settlement in eastern Ukraine.
Refugees from the besieged eastern provinces are voting to elect the leaders and legislatures in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.
Mobile polling stations were opened in three west Russian regions bordering on Ukraine.
Voting is underway at mobile polling stations. Two voting stations have been set up in the village of Krasny Desant in Russia's Rostov region, and the voting is being monitored by foreign observers.
The election commission in Luhansk said it estimated the number of Luhansk refugees living in Russia at some 200,000.
In May, Luhansk and Donetsk regions declared themselves "people's republics" and called to secede from Ukraine after the country went through a painful political crisis, which resulted in a coup in February. In mid-April, the new Ukrainian government launched a military campaign against the regions in a bid to crack down on the opposition.
