Moscow says vote should be respected but stops short of recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent

Russia has given cautious backing to a vote in separatist regions of east Ukraine, which local rebels said proved they would never again be ruled by Kiev. Russia has not recognised the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” as independent, but said the vote should be respected.

Kiev said it would open criminal cases against the organisers. Most other countries have dismissed the vote as illegitimate and there were no recognised international observers present. Nevertheless, the poll was one more step in the de facto separation of the region from the rest of Ukraine.

“The elected representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk regions obtained a mandate to hold negotiations with central Ukrainian authorities to solve problems … via a political dialogue,” said Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Georgy Karasin, on Monday.

Western diplomats have been left guessing exactly what Moscow wants in the region. It seems clear the Kremlin does not want to annex the territory Crimea-style, but Moscow’s talk of negotiations between the separatists and Kiev was at odds with the noises coming out of Donetsk itself.

“Kiev has to come to terms with the idea that Donbass is not part of Ukraine,” said Roman Lyagin, head of the separatists’ electoral committee. “Whether they will recognise the result of our vote or not is Kiev’s problem.”

A spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin found it incomprehensible that “official Russian voices” should recognise the election while the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called on Russia to respect “the unity of Ukraine”.

The rebels have threatened to launch a renewed military assault on the city of Mariupol, part of Donetsk region but currently under Ukrainian control.

Kiev seemingly gave up its attempts to regain control of the territories militarily, after a rebel push apparently backed by regular Russian forces routed Ukrainian forces in August. According to an agreement brokered in Minsk in September, the territories should have special status within Ukraine, but the facts on the ground show that the regions have split off completely.

In Donetsk, Sunday’s vote was won by Alexander Zakharchenko, a former mine electrician who has been the de factor leader of the Donetsk rebels since August, when a number of people with links to Russian security services were withdrawn and replaced with locals. He received more than 70% of the vote, according to a count announced on Monday.

In the absence of real voter lists, there was no way to measure the turnout properly but there were long queues of voters at several polling stations the Guardian visited on Sunday. The majority of people said they were voting “for peace” and for a future separate from Ukraine. Many people expressed a desire for Russia to seize the region in the same way it annexed Crimea from Ukraine earlier this year.

Hundreds of thousands of people have left the region, some to other parts of Ukraine, and some to Russia, where they have been put up in refugee camps near the border or housed in cities across Russia. It is unclear how many will return.

Many people on the streets of Donetsk expressed happiness at the vote, regarding it as one more step towards ensuring Kiev’s forces will not return. Artillery booms are still audible in Donetsk as a small contingent of Ukrainian forces remains locked in battle with the rebels at Donetsk airport.

Most of those who supported a unified Ukraine left Donetsk as things turned nastier, while the ones who have remained have kept quiet in an atmosphere of fear, in which those suspected of pro-Kiev sympathies could be arrested or worse.

“I have retained a little bit of hope that maybe this will all end, that maybe we will wake up and it will be a bad dream,” said one young woman who has remained in Donetsk throughout the year, mainly due to love for her job. “But now it’s obvious that there’s going to be nothing good here. I’m going to move to Kiev.”

Dmitry Neilo, a lawyer who is cooperating with the Donetsk authorities to help draft new laws, said the Donetsk People’s Republic had only passed about 10 laws and the priority will be to draft a proper legal code and tax system now that a parliament has been elected. Up to now, the system has worked on an ad hoc base, with widespread reports of looting and extortion by rebel officials and gunmen.

Rebel authorities said Zakharchenko’s inauguration would take place in Donetsk on Tuesday.