KIEV, Nov. 3 - President Petro Poroshenko called an emergency meeting of his security chiefs for Tuesday to discuss new ways of dealing with the separatist challenge in the east after rebel elections that were denounced by Kiev and the West, Reuters reported.

The rogue votes, which Kiev says Russia encouraged, could create a new "frozen conflict" in post-Soviet Europe and further threaten the territorial unity of Ukraine, which lost control of its Crimean peninsula in March when it was annexed by Russia.

Organizers of the twin ballots said insurgent leaders had emerged victorious in both Donetsk and Luhansk -- two Russian speaking areas of eastern Ukraine -- throwing down the gauntlet to Poroshenko, who vehemently opposed the election.

In a statement, the Ukrainian president denounced the vote as an "electoral farce", repeating that it violated a bedrock deal struck in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sept. 5 intended to pave the way for a settlement of the separatist problem.

His sentiments were echoed by the White House, which condemned what it called "illegitimate, so-called 'elections'" and warned economic penalties on Russia "will rise" if Moscow continues to violate the Minsk deal.

"We are concerned by a Russian Foreign Ministry statement today that seeks to legitimize these sham 'elections,'" Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement on Monday.

Calling for "adjustments" to be made in the way he handled the east, Poroshenko said he intended to scrap a law that would have offered "special status" to areas in the east including those controlled by the rebels.

This would be among points to be discussed on Tuesday in a meeting of Ukraine's security and defense council, he said.

The "special status" law envisaged allowing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to run their own affairs and also offered separatist fighters freedom from prosecution.
Kiev says the Minsk agreement provided only for election of local officials under Ukrainian law, and not for separatist ballots aimed at bringing in leaders of breakaway entities who seek close association or even union with Russia.

Instead, Alexander Zakharchenko, a 38-year-old former mining electrician, easily won election as head of the "Donetsk People's Republic", an entity proclaimed by armed rebels last April. In a similar vote in Luhansk, a smaller self-proclaimed pro-Russian entity further east, Igor Plotnisky won more than 63 percent of the vote, a rebel representative said.

Kiev and the West will now be looking to see if Russian President Vladimir Putin will formally recognize the validity of the election, despite their entreaties to him not to do so.

A Russian deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, made no mention of formal recognition but said the newly elected leadership in eastern Ukraine now had a mandate to negotiate with Kiev.

Up to now, Kiev's leaders have refused to hold direct talks with the separatists, whom they refer to as "terrorists" and "bandits.” (rt/ez)