Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would recognise elections organised by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine on November 2 despite opposition from Kiev.
Ukraine held parliamentary elections on Sunday, which handed a clear victory to parties seeking closer ties with the West, but voting did not take place in the rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
Voting did not take place in Crimea either, which Russia annexed in March.
Rebels in eastern Ukraine have now said they will hold their own elections in a week's time to underscore their independence from Kiev.
Western leaders and Kiev say they will not recognise those elections.
"The elections that will take place on the territory of the proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics will be important from the point of view of legitimising power," Mr Lavrov said.
Mr Lavrov confirmed that Moscow would recognise the election results.
Moscow supports the rebels, who have proclaimed two separatist "people's republics" in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but it denies Western accusations it is party to the conflict there that has killed more than 3,700 people.
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