Moscow, Oct 28 (IANS): Russia will recognise the results of the upcoming separatist elections in eastern Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

Separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions plan to hold votes for heads of their self-proclaimed states and for legislatures Sunday, having boycotting Ukraine's parliamentary elections which were held Oct 26, the Moscow Times reported.

"We expect the elections to take place as agreed, and we will, of course, recognise their results," Lavrov said.

"We count on it that the vote shall be free and nobody from the outside will attempt to disrupt it," he said.

A peace agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus, last month by representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the two separatist regions, allows for "local elections" in Donetsk and Luhansk to form "temporary" self-governance bodies under a new law on "special status" for the territories.

But the separatists remain defiant in insisting on full independence from Ukraine.