Rebel chief, Lenin fan set to win separatist Ukraine votes
Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Two pro-Russian separatists will likely be confirmed as leaders in a controversial vote in Ukraine on Sunday -- one a rebel chief who highlights his status as a miner's son and the other a fan of Communist icon Vladimir Lenin.
Alexander Zakharchenko, who commands rebels fighting Ukrainian government forces in the mining and industrial town of Donetsk, faces no real opposition in the vote that will leave him as the first president of the unrecognised Donetsk People's Republic.
His ambition, he said Friday in a meeting with students, "is to build a new state that will become legitimate afer elections and get back the territories in the east (of Ukraine) that are now under control of the Ukrainians."
The 38-year-old businessman turned warlord says he sold his business to finance the rebels and took part in the storming of the regional administration building in Donetsk on April 16.
The mini statelet then declared its independence, as did nearby Lugansk, triggering a conflict that has now killed more than 4,035 people, according to UN figures.
Despite mounting evidence of heavy Russian involvement in the rebellion -- including, according to Ukraine, direct participation by Russian troops -- Zakharchenko emphasises his local roots.
His official biography highlights that his father worked as a miner for 30 years. Although he is not as renowned in the fighting as rebel chiefs going by the names Motorola and Givi, he was one of the leaders in Slavyansk, a separatist bastion captured by Ukrainian forces after two months of fighting in July.
He became rebel prime minister in August, replacing a series of Russian citizens, a switch apparently reflecting change in Kremlin policy.
Zakharchenko -- like Moscow -- denies Russian troops are taking part in the fighting, where the separatists have access to large amounts of sophisticated weaponry.
"If Russia sent its troops here, we'd be talking about fighting in the outskirts of (the capital) Kiev or the capture of Lviv," he said, referring to the city near Poland's border.
However, he does welcome "thousands of volunteers" coming from Russia. "The Russian volunteers are always the first to help other people for freedom and independence," he said.
Zakharchenko was one of the signatories to a September 5 ceasefire accord that he says his side is respecting, although both sides continue to bombard each other daily.
He says the separatists should capture several more towns in Ukraine's south-east, including the Black Sea port of Mariupol, which would open the way to linking Russia to the Ukrainian region of Crimea, which Russia invaded in March, then annexed.
"We must get back all the territories that belong to us, through negotiation or other ways," he said, warning of "very intense fighting" ahead.
Although his new title of president is intended to add to his legitimacy, Zakharchenko says he knows that few will recognise the Donetsk People's Republic. "Very likely we will not be recognised. On one side that is bad, on the other it's very good because it means we will have no international obligations," he said.
A similar picture is unfolding in the self-declared Lugansk People's Republic, where Igor Plotnitsky is assured of victory on Sunday.
The burly, 50-year-old former Soviet army officer rose to the top of the separatist ranks after the former Lugansk chief, Valery Bolotov, was wounded.
Like many rebel leaders, he is known for his admiration for the Soviet past. He called the toppling of a huge statue of Lenin in the eastern city of Kharkiv "moral genocide."
